Becoming Lord Potter-Black
by Dolceconbrio
Summary: On his sixteenth birthday, Harry gets a letter that tells him that there is more about being an Heir than he thinks.There are certain rules and etiquettes to follow. He learns that not everything is as simple as it seems and decides that he will do everything he can to create choices for everyone. Mild Dumbledore-bashing. No pairing Rated T to be safe. Some mentions of child abuse.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1. Discoveries**

It was late at night and the entire town of Little Whinging was asleep. Everyone, but one boy. His name was Harry Potter and he was currently sitting on a rickety chair by a worn desk that was covered, not with papers and other mess like you would expect from an almost 16 year old boy, but with parchment and an empty owl cage.  
In his hand, Harry held one of his cast off shirts with which he was trying to clean the wounds on his chest. His uncle had been in a foul mood tonight and had worked out his anger on his nephew, this resulting in bloody welts on his front and back, the latter he unfortunately couldn't reach. He was hoping for a surge of accidental magic to heal them later while he was asleep, but knew that it probably wouldn't happen. His _relatives_ had been starving him again this summer and he had weakened to the point that it was tiring to move at all. It was only his magic that kept him upright while doing his chores, he didn't have anything to spare for healing.

He sighed and looked out of the window again. In half an hour he would turn 16. Traditionally, at midnight his birthday presents from his friends would arrive. Hedwig had flew out two hours ago, presumably to pick up his present from Hermione, who didn't have an owl.  
He saw little spots moving in the sky and tried to focus on them. As they came closer, Harry could discern 4 owls. He opened the window for them to enter.  
A moment later they all landed on his desk. Three of them neatly in a row, the fourth one in a pathetic heap. That was Errol, the Weasly family owl. He would probably need some time to recover, so Harry took his package first. The owl gratefully nipped his finger and allowed himself to be picked up so Harry could lay him on his bed.  
Ron's present was messily wrapped in orange paper. A letter was stuck on top of it.  
Harry opened that first.

_Hey mate_

_Don't beat yourself up about Sirius okay? It wasn't your fault. You'll be coming to where we're staying next week. Hang on till then! I hope the Dursleys are treating you alright. Mum's sending you a cake once Errol comes back and is recovered for a second trip, but I wanted to send you my present first.  
Practise okay? I want a challenge when we're back at Hogwarts._

_Your best friend,  
Ron  
P.S I'm sorry it's not new, the owner of the shop told me that the pieces are very responding to new players though, so that should work out. They can also play on their own, so you have someone to play against. Hope you like it!_

Like he had suspected after reading the letter, the package contained his very own wizard's chess set. It had some scratches here and there, but overall it was in a decent shape. He really liked it, although his stomach was grumbling at Ron that the cake should have come first.

Hermione's present was second. Hedwig stretched her leg so he could untie the package. "Thanks girl." He whispered affectionately. His owl was his only companion during summers and he was grateful to have her back in his room. He even thought she knew that, she left for a few hours to hunt every night, but usually came back before he wake up. She ruffled her feathers elegantly when he gave her some treats.  
Hermione asked about how he was dealing with Sirus, his health and homework of course and Harry was proud to say that he had managed to complete it already. He had snuck out the first nights back to steal his books, who were now cramped in the small space under the loose floorboard under his bed. Since he mostly had nightmares about Sirus and Voldemort when he slept, and woke up in pain because of his uncle, he now spent his nights studying. He would probably do well next year.  
She also told him that she had gone to Rome on holiday and that she had bought his present there, in a street similar to Diagon Alley.

He carefully unwrapped the present and gasped. Hermione had really outdone herself. Inside was a beautifully carved wooden box. It had lily's on the sides and on the lid was a Family crest.  
A post-it was stuck on top.

_Harry_

_This is a never-ending box of secrets. It never gets full and once you key yourself in (just ad a drop of blood while thinking of the Potter line), only you can open it. The brighter the light, the stronger the protection. When I saw the lilies, I immediately had to think of you. The shop owner told me that a Family crest is usually added, so I went and asked him to do that. It's the Potter Family crest, Harry. I've put in some things for you, mostly food, as I know how much you need it. Seriously Harry, you should tell Professor Dumbledore about your relatives' treatment of you. I don't think he knows, he just doesn't want to see._

_Anyway Harry, happy birthday. I see you you-know-where next week.  
Love  
Hermione_

His Family crest. Harry smiled. He didn't even know he had one. He stroked over the complicated carving, a feeling of home spreading through his body. He then held the box against his chest. Some blood should touch it now, he thought bitterly, and then thought of the Potters and the Family he had never really known.

A blinding white light came out of the crest, heating him up, but not in a bad way. He felt comforted. When he looked down at his chest, the wounds had healed. Unfortunately those on his back were still there, he winced as he moved to test them.  
He opened the box, rummaged through the foods (there was a large variety) and put all of his books from the space under the floorboard in there too. It was an easy fit. Like Hermione had said, the box wouldn't get full. Then he added all of his parchment, so his desk got clean and put the box on his desk.

The next present were rock cakes from Hagrid. He stored them, though he knew he would only eat them if it was a case of life and death.

The final owl shocked him. He wore the Black Family crest on his leg ring. He recognized it because it was engraved in all the plates, cups and cutlery of Grimmauld Place. But who from the Black Family could send him a letter. Hadn't Phineas Nigellus said that Sirius was the last one? He knew of course that Narcissa Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange were born Black, but they wouldn't want to write to him and even then they would use their husbands' crest. Right?  
Nervously he accepted the letter. The owl took off immediately. No reply required then. He opened the letter it was carrying. A small ring fell out. He would look at that later.  
When he started reading, tears welled up in his eyes. He'd recognized the handwriting as soon as he laid eyes on it. It was from Sirius.

_Dear pup_

_Happy Birthday. May you be blessed with a bright future.  
If you're reading this, I'm no longer alive. I'm sorry that I left you behind. Please know that I didn't mean to. I love you with all my heart.  
And whatever happened, know that it is NOT your fault. I know you blame yourself for everything that happens around you, but you didn't want me dead, so you hold no blame. I'm writing you this letter, that should arrive at your sixteenth birthday, because I fear that no one will inform you of this and you really need to know. I would've taught you myself if I were still with you, but unfortunately I'm not, so you will have to work hard to make up for it. There is a list of books you need to get from your vaults and another one of what you have to buy._

_You are, as you well know, the Potter Heir. Though I really hope that he explained everything and got you tutors, I'm afraid that Dumbledore left you without information about your position. I also named you the Heir of the Most Ancient and Noble Family of Black. There is a letter addressed to Gringotts confirming this. You will have to bring it to them and ask them to perform an inheritance ritual. I'll explain more about that later.  
Before an Heir of an Ancient and Noble Family turns sixteen, he can more or less behave the way he likes. Of course there are expectations from their Family. The best examples you know are of course Draconis Malfoy, who is encouraged to behave superior and Neville Longbottom, of whom you probably only know that his Grandmother is demanding. Each Family, especially the Ancient and Noble or most Ancient and Noble ones, have certain values that have to be respected by its members.  
The most important one is the Family motto. Toujours Pur is the motto of the Black Family. Everyone should marry a pureblood. It seems very shallow nowadays, but there was a time in which every Ancient and Noble Family had to marry Purebloods. The fact that our Motto is Toujours Pur, merely meant back then that they would do everything to uphold the Family honor. Same with the Malfoys, whose motto is Sanctimonia vincit semper (Purity will always conquer), but they take it very literally.  
The Blacks are known for cunning (which shouldn't be a problem for you. You are more slytherin than you think, Harry) and poise (you really have to learn pureblood wizarding etiquette).  
The Potter Family has Pura Sequi. It means 'To follow purity is my delight'. The Potters are renowned for their honor. No one will ever doubt the word of a Potter. It even has value as court evidence. This also means that you can't break your promises without shaming the Potter Family.  
Another Family value is their huge amount of allied Families. You are friendly with the Longbottoms, the Abbots, the Bones, the Blacks of course and the McGonagalls.  
And you have several non-ancient Families under your protection, a complete list can be found in the Potter vault.  
The Blacks have alliances with the Lestranges and the Malfoys through marriage. I would advise to annul them, but maybe you should wait and see with the Malfoys. I'll explain why._

_Draconis Lucius Malfoy, whom you know as Draco Malfoy, is the Heir of the most Ancient and Noble house of Malfoy. He is also the next in line for the Lordship of Black.  
He is your heir, Harry. Only for the Blacks, don't worry, he can't touch the Potter heritage. You could disown Narcissa and by her, Draco, but I wouldn't do that.  
As soon as the world hears of a new Lord Black, Narcissa and Draco will ask for an audience. They are required to pledge loyalty to their house and to you as their Lord. If they refuse, they are disowned. If they make the pledge, Draco has to obey you as much as he does his Father. In exchange, he is under your protection.  
Nobody knows that I made you my heir and I advise you to keep it that way. Don't tell anyone and keep Lord Potter and Lord Black separate identities.  
I can't tell you how to do it, but maybe you can still save Draco. The Black Family is more influential than the Malfoy one._

_I can't explain more to you in this letter. You are on your own now, with the books on the list. I can give you a short to-do list to start with as a last help. It is on one of the additional parchments I have disclosed. Learn the information in this letter by heart and burn it. _

_With all my love  
Padfoot  
Your Godfather  
Sirius Orion Black  
Lord of the most Ancient and Noble House of Black_

Harry put down the letter. The tears in his eyes had dried. He had a mission.  
He didn't understand everything that he had read completely. But it would probably come with time. He carefully put the letter away in Hermione's box and put it in his hidden space.  
Then he lay face down on his bed, carefully shoving Errol aside and fell asleep.

The next morning Harry got locked into his room after breakfast. Breakfast for the Dursleys anyway. Not for him. They were going out for the day, which was perfect for his plans.  
He ate a small portion of the food Hermione had provided for him and got out the heavy envelope of Sirius again.  
Rummaging through the parchments, he found the to-do list.  
Number one was something he hadn't thought of.  
Kreacher. He would have to check his loyalty. And if he was no longer loyal to the Family name, he'd kill.. –No. He couldn't do that. Hermione's shrill voice rang in his ears. _They are just misunderstood. You have to be kind to them. Look at Dobby._ "Yeah, look at Dobby." He said to himself. He would have to find a way to get Kreacher to be loyal to _him_, not just the Family.

He braced himself and took a deep breath.  
"Kreacher, can you come in, please?"  
With a loud POP, the old house elf appeared into his room.  
"Master." He croaked, bowing low, "the sniveling half-blood is now the Heir of Black and Kreacher doesn't like, but Kreacher obeys."  
Deciding a plan of approach and trying to forget that this THING had betrayed Sirius Harry asked: "Why don't you like it, Kreacher? I could always free you if you prefer?"  
"Master won't free Kreacher." The house elf smirked. "Kreacher knows too much and Master knows its."  
"I would do it if you won't serve me. A house elf that doesn't want to serve is not a good house elf, is that not right? Why would the future Lord Black keep a house elf that isn't worthy of serving and keeping its secrets?"  
Kreacher seemed genuinely confused. "But Master is half-blood. Mudblood. He's is not worthy of the Black name."  
"Are you insulting your master, Kreacher?" Harry asked sternly. He didn't like the attitude he had to put up, but he wanted to win the argument and possibly ensure loyalty.  
Kreacher wanted to punish himself by slamming his head into the wall, but Harry managed to catch him in time.  
"Don't do that, please, Kreacher. At least finish the argument first."  
The elf nodded before continuing. "Kreacher honors the values of the Family, Master. But Kreacher also obeying Master and old Mistress."  
Harry saw the key to cooperation. "I want to study the values of the Family, Kreacher. And the pureblood wizarding ways as well. But I have no one to teach me. Do you think I could speak with your mistress? Do you think she could teach me?" After all, Harry thought, Sirius probably learned from his mother.  
Kreacher nodded his knobby head enthusiastically. "Yes, Master. Kreacher is asking the Mistress."  
"Not yet, please, Kreacher." Harry said quickly. "I have some things to do first. I want to…err brush up on my manners first. So that I don't insult your mistress. What do you think?"  
Kreacher bobbed his head again. "Yes, Master. Kreacher is thinking it is good idea."  
"Very well, Kreacher. That's great. Thank you for your help." The elf lighted up at the praise. "Could you do something else for me? There are black Heir robes in the room of your Master Regulus and I need to wear them to go to Gringotts. Could you get them for me, please? I only need them today and I'll be really careful with them."  
Harry had noticed while staying at Grimmauld place last year that the elf was attached to clothes from owners who died.

"Yes Master. Kreacher is getting them for young Master." He bowed low and disappeared with a POP. He was only away for a moment and then popped back in and gave Harry the robes. "That will be all for now, Kreacher. I would like for you to start cleaning Grimmauld place. I will probably be there a lot. The other blood traitors won't be coming along anymore."  
Kreacher looked happy. "Yes Master. The Most Ancient and Noble House of Black is restoring her glory. Kreacher is so very happy, Master." Then he disappeared again.

Harry was relieved that he had gained the loyalty of the elf and didn't really understand why nobody else had been able to do it.  
Then it came to him. It was the cunning. Kreacher was loyal to the Black Family, its Master and its values. Since he used the value of cunning to gain the elf's loyalty, it had been easier than with kindness like Hermione had tried.

He changed into the old robes. They were in perfect state, but a little out of fashion. Not as bad as Ron's dress robes had been, luckily. The cuts weren't done like this anymore and the fabric was heavier than used nowadays. It fit perfectly though and the black crest sat on his heart. He picked up the letter for Gringotts, raised his hood so he would be unrecognizable and finally put on the ring Sirius had enclosed with his letter. It was the Heir ring. A surge of magic pulsed through him, recognizing him as the true Black Heir, then it calmed down.  
Harry rubbed the Black Family crest that was engraved in the onyx, set in the ring and said "Diagon Alley".

A moment later, the smallest bedroom of Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging was as empty as the rest of the house.

**Well that was my first chapter ever on Fanfiction. I hope you like it! Please rate and review.  
I would like to let you know that I am not a native speaker of English. Therefore I ask you not to be too harsh on my grammar and vocabulary. I am trying the best I can. You are always welcome to correct my mistakes of course!  
I know it's not a very long chapter, but it's just the first one. I'll try to make them longer as I go along.**

**I am looking for a Bèta!**

**Next chapter: Gringotts, Diagon Alley and the Old Pureblood Wizarding Ways.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2. Gringotts and Diagon Alley**

The portkey dropped him off at the apparition point of Gringotts. Normally Harry landed on this face, but this time he slammed backwards into the wall, making him wince when his still fresh wounds started bleeding again. He could only hope that the fabric of the shirt he wore underneath the robes was thick enough to absorb it before it could seep through his robes. At least he had managed to stay upright and keep a shred of his dignity.

A grumpy looking goblin in a red and gold uniform guarded the entrance. A copy of the poem that was also displayed at the main entrance was painted on the heavy doors in a decorative curly handwriting.  
"Proceed please." the goblin grunted. Harry really wanted to just get everything over and done with, but knew he should probably follow Sirius' guidelines so he said: "Good morning, esteemed keeper, may your gold flow as richly as the blood of your enemies." he tried to make his voice sound smoother, more like Sirius and his father in the pensieve and even managed to add a mysterious edge to it.  
Harry noted with an extreme satisfaction that the goblin looked completely baffled for a moment. Then he noticed the crest and the ring, seemed to recompose himself and bowed low, opening the doors for the young Heir. "And may our transactions be fruitful." he said. "What is your business with us today?"  
"I've come for an inheritance ritual. I was told to ask for the esteemed Ragnok." Harry said, keeping his lord-like tone.  
"Of course, sir. I'll show you to his office." He exited the apparition point before Harry and signalled another goblin to take his place. He then led Harry through a maze of small corridors to finally end up before an office with the tag:

_Ragnok  
__Senior Director  
Rites and Rituals_

The goblin knocked for him.  
"Enter." the voice of an old goblin said from within the room.  
"I have brought the Heir of Black for an inheritance ritual, esteemed Director." the keeper announced as he opened the door.  
"Show him in." Ragnok said. "You can leave us."  
As soon as the keeper had left, Harry repeated the traditional welcoming phrases. If this goblin was surprised at all, he hid it well. "Heir Potter, I was hoping to see you here one of these days. Welcome. Tell me what I can do for you."  
It was Harry's turn to be baffled. "How... How did you know it was me?" he stammered.  
"Well Heir Potter, the late Lord Black informed me of your inheritance and since you stand before me now, who else could you be? Do not worry. I am the only goblin aware of your double lordship and I will not tell a soul. Let us get started, please sit down." Ragnok said while motioning to the chair in front of his desk.  
Having refound his senses, Harry sat down. This Heir Potter thing was already starting to get on his nerves. Luckily Sirius had warned him on this list. Otherwise he would have insisted to be called Harry, hereby gravely insulting Ragnok. Goblins didn't like to be pushed into familiarity.  
So he stayed formal: "Yes, my godfather, the late Lord Black that is, wrote to me, informing me of my inheritance. I was told to come here and ask for an inheritance ritual?"  
"Then we will perform one. What do you know about inheritance rituals, Heir Potter?"  
"Not so much." Harry admitted sheepisly, "Just that I need one to be able to accept my inheritance."  
De goblin gave him an indulging nod. "First I have to explain what you are getting yourself into. An inheritance ritual is obligated when taking on an inheritance that isn't from your paternal line. It is used as a protection of the Family values. Basically it will test your intent and see if you are willing to live by the rules of the Family while at the same time confirming that your are who you claim to be. It will also scan your capablilities as a Family Head, trying to prevent incompetent lords to get control and destroy the Family reputation.  
You will not be required to undergo this ritual for the Potters, since the obeying of these rules is vested in your blood. Simply said, a person of Potter blood will not like lying or breaking his word by nature. The inheritance ritual will place the nature of the Black Family on you, so you will be disinclined to break their values.

Do you understand?"  
Harry thought this was extremely complicated, but thought he understood, so he nodded.  
"What if I am proved unworthy?"  
The goblin smiled in approval, but Harry wasn't sure he liked the smile. It looked cruel.  
"If you are simply uncompatible, the contract will reject you as a candidate, though it probably helps that the previous lord personally approved. If you have ill intents, the ritual will kill you."  
Harry swallowed heavily. Then he made his decision. "Since I do not have ill intents, I will accept the ritual."  
If possible, the goblin's grin widened even further. "Please follow me then."  
They left the small office and entered a large room further down the hall. Walls and floor were covered in black marble and the ceiling was painted with runes Harry didn't understand. He wished he had taken the subject, maybe it would give him some pointers on what to do.  
"Just stand in the middle of the room on that star." Ragnok motioned.  
Harry took his position. Ragnok handed him a dagger. "Let some blood fall on the star. NO, wait until I'm out of the rune cirkel!" he added as Harry moved to cut himself.  
When the goblin nodded that it was safe, Harry nervously drew some blood and let it stream down on the star.  
"Now claim the House of Black."  
The Potter Heir breathed out heavily and then looked up at the runes on the ceiling while calmly stating: "I, Harry James Potter hereby claim to be the Heir to the Lordship of the most Ancient and Noble House of Black. I promise to uphold its values and live by its standards and to bid protection to its members. I swear this by Magic Itsself, so mote it be."  
A blinding light filled the room and a pressure started on Harry's head, trying to push it down. He instinctively knew not to lower it, but let the pressure in. It swerved through his mind, the way Snape did with Occlumency, but a thousand times more painful, it watched his memories, his very soul for signs of deceit and lies. It looked for occasions in which he had been forced to take leadership, the DA, fights against Death Eaters, confrontations with Voldemort and many more that he wasn't even aware of. It replayed his life with the Dursley's and he felt the anger of the Magic at the treatment of a possible Heir of Its House. Finally it ended after reading Sirus' letter.  
A soothing voice that was neither male nor female spoke to him, though he knew only he could hear it.  
_"We accept your claim, Harry James Potter. We want to reward you for your courage by giving you what you should have always had, we will restore your body of all damage done to it and remove the evil that has a nest in your lightning bolt._  
_We do however, understand your mission to keep your identities seperate and, given your promise not to let it work against fulfilling you duties for the House of Black, consent to it." A heavy medallion fell into his pocket. "As long as you wear this, you will look the way you did before our gift. When you, and only you, take it off, the illusion will disappear._  
_Harry James Potter, we hereby grant you the Lordship of the most Ancient and Noble House of Black."_

The light then disappeared and was replaced by a warm flame that quickly spread through his body. He felt his body react as if he had just swallowed polyjuice, but felt no pain.  
Then, as sudden as it had started, it stopped.  
Harry looked around for Ragnok and found him slumped against the wall in a corner.

The goblin on the other side of the room stared at him. He looked at him from head to toe and back again. He opened his mouth to say something, closed it again and blinked.  
Then he shook his head as if to wake himself up.  
"Lord Black, allow me to congratulate you with you new Lordship."

"My what?" Harry exclaimed. Then he gripped his own throat. His voice had lowered to a pleasant depth. He no longer had to fake the smoothness, it was there on its own. While doing this, he saw that his hands, that had been covered in burn scars (that's what you get when you let a young child do your cooking) were now a perfectly even tone, just a shade darker than ivory.  
The floor seemed to be futher away than before, indicating that he had grown.

Curious about what else had changed, he turned his attention back to the goblin. "Do you have a mirror?" he heard his new voice ask.  
The goblin nodded and snapped his fingers. A mirror appeared in front of the new Lord.  
Harry instinctively brought his hands to his face. To his great relief, his eyes were still the same. His cheek bones had hightened and his eye lashes were fuller, giving him a more aristocratic look. His hair had lengthened and now hung a little lower than his shoulders, showing his Lord status. It still wasn't tame, but it wasn't a crow's nest either. There was a curly wave in it, much like Sirius' had been. He had grown and was now a healthy 6 feet 2 inches. His body was toned, but still lean and his skin color was the same as his hands, contrasting his raven hair.  
He looked handsome.  
"Wow." he whispered.  
The goblin chuckled. "I agree." he said.  
That brought Harry back to earth. "How come I'm a Lord and not an Heir?" he wondered out loud.  
"Apparently the Black Family Spirits decided that you are mature enough to handle the position already. You could probably claim the Potter Lordship as well." Ragnok suggested.  
It was tempting, Harry thought, but he decided against it. "I don't think I will, it will only add to my cover of seperate identities that Lord Black is older than I am."  
"I agree." Ragnok said. "I have to admit that I was surprised when you were accepted."  
"How so?" Harry asked, "I thought I met the requirements you listed quite well."  
The goblin looked down at his hands and nervously twisted the front of his uniform.  
"Most people are killed during an inheritance ritual if they already are an Heir or a Lord."  
"What? Why? And why didn't you tell me?"  
"I thought it would be amusing to see." Ragnok admitted and a wicked smile appeared on his face. "I heard that every House has a different way of killing and I hadn't heard of the Black way yet. I was curious." he defended himself.  
Harry was disgusted by the goblin's attitude, but still wanted to know why. "But why if they are already an Heir or Lord?" he asked again.  
The goblin shrugged. "It takes a huge amount of magic to be able to control two houses. Especially two powerful ones like yours. Most wizards get overpowered."  
"And you thought it would be amusing to see me get overpowered?" Harry asked, keeping his tone politely interested, even if he actually was seething with anger.  
"Well yes, can you imagine the papers? Boy-who-lived killed by inheritance ritual. The ruses it would cause. I wanted to be there when it happened." Ragnok shrugged.  
"Thank you for your trust." Harry said coldly.  
"I apologize, Lord Black. It was inappropriate." the goblin hastened to say.  
"It was the truth. I like the truth." Harry said calmly.  
Now the goblin laughed out loud. "Of course you do, you are a Potter."  
Still grinning, Ragnok motioned Harry to come with him. An adjoining dressing room was prepared for him.  
"I had a set of daily robes fetched out of your vault. This way you can do your finances, wearing appropriate clothing, you wouldn't want to be seen in Heir robes now you're a Lord."  
"Thank you, Ragnok." Harry said, allowing a small smile.  
"I'll have a cart goblin waiting for you outside the door. He will escort you to the vaults of your choice. Your trust has been emptied into the Potter Vault, so that isn't an option. I would advise against visisting the Potter Vault in this identity, the cart goblins are gossipers. But the Black Vault is open to you, as are the three trust vaults, for Bellatrix Lestrange, Narcissa Malfoy and Draconis Malfoy."

"I wish to disinherit Bellatrix Lestrange." Harry said darkly.  
"You need a good reason to do so." the goblin warned. "Just a grudge won't do."  
Harry glared at Ragnok. "She killed the former Lord by pushing him through the veil at the Department of Mysteries. Will that do?" the asked sweetly.  
Ragnok's mouth fell open. "Err yes. Yes, that should do. Do you know the phrase?"  
Harry nodded grumpily.  
"The trust vault will be emptied into the main vault after you finish it."  
"I, Harry James Potter-Black, Lord of the most Ancient and Noble House of Black, hereby disinherit Bellatrix Druella Lestrange née Black for her direct roll in the assassination of the late Lord Sirius Orion Black. May she be shunned by all and no longer find comfort in our Magicks and Values. So mote it be."  
A dark flash came from his finger.  
Curious, Harry looked at it. The Heir ring was no longer there. In its place was a larger, even more gracefully polished Lord Ring. The Family Crest was etched in the stone and shimmered when he touched it. A wave of power flew through him. He was shocked for a moment and then looked at Ragnok questioningly.  
"It's the Black Lord ring. The Heir ring returned to your vault when you inherited the Lordship. You just felt the Family Magicks. It's also a portkey to all of your family estates and back here."  
Harry nodded in understanding.  
Then the goblin handed him another, smaller ring with a ruby. "This is the Potter Heir ring, you should put it away safely."  
"Leave me then. I'll change." he said, regaining his voice. He put the ring in the same pocket as the medallion.

* * *

The young goblin leading him to his vault was annoying, Harry thought. He kept staring at him as if he were some kind of attraction. He was used to it when his scar was visible, but he wasn't recognisable now, so he didn't get it.  
"Is there something you wanted to ask me?" he said smoothly, trying not to snap.  
The young goblin jumped up. "I apologize, Lord Black. I didn't mean to stare. I was looking at the jewellery, sir." the goblin hasted to say.  
Funny, Harry thought, he had never met a jumpy goblin before.  
He had used a spell Sirius had left on the list for him to help him with his hair.  
Several goblin-forged onyx hairpins kept his hair into an elegant loose braid, that conveniently also covered his scar.  
Harry relaxed after the goblin's explanation. "That's quite alright, young goblin." he said. "I understand."

They were now down to the lowest level of Gringotts. Harry was freezing and wished he could do a warming charm. "Stupid Ministery for Underage Magic." he muttered under his breath.  
"Err Lord Black. You are 17 right? You came into your inheritance. They can't track Lords." the young goblin brought up.  
Did I talk that loud? Harry thought alarmed. He opened his mouth to say that he was 17, but suddenly he felt bad about lying to this young goblin. Damn those Family values.  
Sirius had warned him that keeping his identity secret would be hard while having to be truthful, but he hadn't counted on needing that advice this soon.  
'Be cunning, Harry.' he thought to himself. 'Evade the question. Just don't answer it directly, then everything should be fine.'  
"Thank you for reminding me." he said, a small smile appearing on his face.

Just when he'd cast the warming charm, they arrived at the Black vault.  
"Please place your hand on the door." the goblin instructed while he did the same.  
As soon as Harry's hand touched the stone, it melted away, giving him access.  
"Merlin." he whispered. "How much is in here?"

Large piles of gold and silver were stored in the vaults, but also antique furniture, furs, tapestries, arms and dragon hide, jewellery and books. Huge amounts of books.  
"The Black Vault holds 23 billion galleons, but there are also some investments in companies and 14 different houses, so the total value of the Family is estimated on 33 billion galleons." the goblin answered.  
Harry gulped. "Could I perhaps ask in comparision, how much does the Malfoy vault hold?"  
The goblin grinnned. "Their fortune is roughly estimated to be around 15 billion galleons. They are the second richest Family after yourself."  
He had twice the amount of money that Malfoy had. Harry couldn't get his mind wrapped around it. The Malfoys threw their money around and they still had this much. He had a lot of money apparently. And a large Vault.  
Sighing he picked up Sirius' list and wanted to start browsing the vault, looking for them, but the goblin stopped him.  
"Just state the object you want to take with you and it should come to you." he smirked. "You don't have to go looking for it."  
"Oh, thank you." Harry said and he listed the books he needed. They were all about Wizarding Etiquette, History and Families. Five of them were handwritten by the Black Family and gave information on how to manage the finances, properties and businesses.  
He also took some jewellery and a complete dragon hide armor.  
After he'd stored everything in a bottomless pouch the goblin had provided for him and strapping on a wand holster, they left for the trust vaults.  
On their way there, the goblin, who had finally gotten comfortable enough to introduce himself as Nagnuk, gave him some information:  
"In wealthy families trust vaults are provided for Heirs and married women to give them a link to the Family. For Heirs it is an opportunity to learn the value of money. They basically play mini-Lord. They invest some and the rest is pocket money, a lot of pocket money.  
For married women, having some money of their own is a way to keep from being completely independent on their husbands so that they can uphold their Family pride. The Trust Vault from Narcissa Black holds 2 million galleons and is restocked to this amount every year.  
Draco Malfoy also has a trust for the Malfoy Family and doesn't access his Black vault too much. His holds 4 million galleons with the same conditions as his mother.

In each vault Harry left a Black Family jewel as a gift. Narcissa got a broach with small onyxes and pearls and matching earrings and Draco got a bracelet with an onyx snake that had emeralds for eyes, which Harry thought was pretty funny. It could serve as some sort of hint to his identity, though Malfoy probably wouldn't think of that.

"Is there an office of some kind where I could read some documents?" Harry asked.  
"Of course. There are a few private studies you can rent for as long a you want, but being our most important client, you can use one of them for as long as you like."  
The goblin led him to a corridor of single doors, that was right off the main hall and opened one of them.  
"Just speak to one of the tellers when you are done." Nagnuk said. Then he left him alone.

Harry took a seat at the beautiful wooden desk. The next point on Sirius' list was to study Chapter 1 till 5 of _A guide to Pureblood Wizarding Ways: __Part 1. Greetings and Daily Conducts of Heirs and Lords._  
Sirius explained that he would need to know the first five chapters to correctly greet everyone in Diagon Alley, from shop owners to fellow Lords, to Heirs.  
When he started reading, he understood why.  
He really hoped he could remember all this. Especially since his conducts would have to be different when he was Heir Potter than when he was Lord Black.

* * *

It took him nearly 4 hours to get these basics drilled into his head for the Black Family alone, together with appropriate wording and bows. He was happy when a goblin brought in a tray with a couple of sandwiches, he was so used to being hungry that the idea of eating hadn't even occurred to him.  
Then he finally felt ready to go to Diagon Alley. He had some shopping to do.  
He told one of the clerks that he was going and then elegantly walked outside.  
The Black poise was important. He had to be elegant and graceful, but not arrogant. Regal but not stiff. Be eloquent, but not too distant, nor too familiar.  
In one word: charming.

He really hoped he could pull this off, but was not really sure.  
He felt like bloody Malfoy as he walked down the Alley, to Madam Malkin's.  
Not a lot of people paid attention to him, which was quite a relief to his normal trips to Diagon Alley. He did see some young children pointing in his direction from where they were playing around their talking parents. Harry suspected that they were pureblood children, who recognised his Family Crest. Or maybe didn't recognise it, but at least knew it had some kind of meaning, seeing there fathers wearing on too.

One thing was for sure, Madam Malkin did knew what the Crest stood for.  
"Lord Black," she said, sinking in a polite curtsey, "I am so honored you came to my store. How can I help you?"  
The moment of truth, Harry thought, he politely inclined his head and said: "Good afternoon, Madam Malkin, I was hoping you could help me. My house elves had a little accident with my closet and I find myself in need of an entire wardrobe."  
Madam Malkin's face lit up completely. "Of course, Lord Black. Rack or custom?"  
"If you have some time, I would prefer custom, Madam."  
If possible, Madam Malkin's smile widened even further.  
"Please follow me." she said. Harry was led through the store to a midnight blue curtain in the back. A large space was behind it. It was filled with fabrics of all materials and colours and an entire arrangment of styling books.

She showed him one style of robe after the other, held fabrics around his face and finally ushered him on a small podium an made him wear loose pieces of fabric, that under her capable hands became.. well they still looked like just a piece of fabric, but Harry could see that Madam Malkin saw some sense in it, so he just went along. Going along was another one of Sirius' hints, so it had to be good for something.

And unbeknownst to him, Madam Malkin was marvelling at her handsome, young customer, who was a rich Lord, came for an entire custom made wardrobe, didn't mind fitting and easily gave his opinion on fabrics and colours, even suggesting some additional things. She couldn't wait to tell her friends about this new Lord.

A few hours later, Harry left the store. Madam Malkin had promised to have a few sets ready by the following morning, so Kreacher could pick them up.

After this test, Harry felt comfortable enough to finish his shopping. Afterwards he called Kreacher and told him to make an appointment with the portrait of Sirius' mother.  
As Kreacher popped away, the thing he had hoped to avoid happened.  
Another Lord approached him. Harry had of course memorized the crests, so he recognized the Lord as Lord Zabini, a neutral family. His son, Blaise, was with him.  
"Lord Black, I don't think we have had the pleasure of meeting you before." Lord Zabini said, while placing his hand on his son's shoulder and making a small bow.  
"Lord Zabini, Blaise." Harry said in a neutral tone, as a Lord he could address every Heir by their first name if he wished, but most Lords didn't go through the trouble of memorizing them all. Harry had an advantage there, knowing most of them from school.  
Blaise seemed surprised by being addressed by his name and made a bow, that was a little deeper than his Father's. "Lord Black." he said respectfully.  
"We were just on our way to _La cuillère d'or _for dinner." Lord Zabini said, "Would you be interested in joining us?"  
Suddenly Harry was very glad that he had made the appointment with Walburga Black, "I'm sorry to say that I have other obligations." he said, his voice apologetic, "But I would very much like to meet another day." Then he turned to Blaise. "Do you happen to know Draconis Malfoy?"  
"I do, Lord Black." Blaise said, looking a little confused as to where this was going. "In fact, I have planned to meet him tomorrow."  
"How convenient," Harry said, "would you mind telling him that wish to schedule an appointment with him? I will send him an owl as well of course, but I would appreciate it if you could pass him the message?" And he wanted to get it out in the public that he was meeting Draco.  
"Of course, Lord Black." Blaise answered, the wheels in his head turning to find the reason why such an appointment would be necessary.  
"In that case, I won't hold you from your dinner any longer." Harry said, inclining his head. "Lord Zabini."  
"Lord Black." each Zabini said, bowing slightly.

When they parted, Harry rubbed his finger over his Lord ring and mumbled. "Grimmauld Place."  
And as he landed painfully once more, the last thing he thought before hearing a portrait scream, was that he really needed to find a way to travel easier.

**So this was the second chapter. I hope you like it. It's a little technical, I know, but I have to explain all these things as I need them in the following chapters. More should happen next chapter.  
Please rate and review!**

**Next Chapter: Lady Walburga Black, the reaction of the Order and Voldemort.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3. Reactions from Dumbledore and Voldemort**

"Kreacher, could you check if there is anyone else but us in here?" Harry asked as the elf popped in to greet him.  
"We is alone, Master." Kreacher said, bowing. "Just the Master and Mistress Black, Master."  
"Thank you, Kreacher." Harry said, while the elf helped him out of his heavy outer robes. "Could you tell Lady Black that I have arrived."  
The screaming indicated that she already knew, but Harry wanted to make a good impression.  
So Kreacher walked over to the portrait and explained that Harry had arrived. The screaming stopped instantly.  
"Well don't let him just stand there, bring him here." Walburga Black scolded the elf.  
"If you would follow me, Master." Kreacher said. When Harry would think back of this years later, he would find this situation incredibly funny. It all occurred within 60 feet of corridor and still they all pretended to be far apart from each other.  
When he arrived before the portrait, Lord Black bowed a bow that was deeper than every bow today. It was an equal's bow. "Lady Black." he said, "Such an honor it is to finally formally meet you."  
"As it is for me, Lord Black." the woman in the painting said, returning the bow. "I understand that you have come to ask me to become your tutor in the Pureblood Wizarding Ways."  
"If you would have me, Madame." Harry said respectfully.  
"Well, I suppose that I could not let the next Lord Black run around unschooled." she said. "At least you're a pureblood." she mumbled after that.  
"I would like to be honest with you and tell you that I am a halfblood, Madame." the young lord replied nervously. "My mother was-"  
"Of course your blood is pure!" Lade Black interrupted. "You passed the inheritance ritual, didn't you. The Family spirits wouldn't have accepted you if you hadn't been a pureblood."  
"Well, apparently they did, Madame." Harry said a little exasperated.  
"We'll figure this out later." Lady Black said with a little sigh. "Please join me in the dining room. You can eat while we cover the rest of this conversation."  
Then she stalked out of her portrait.

It took Harry a while, but eventually, he found the lady in the informal dining room in a painting of a throne-like chair, that, Harry felt, had been painted exactly for this purpose.  
He sat down and immediately, Kreacher served him a steaming stew.  
"Please eat." Lady Black said when Harry looked up at her. "I can see you're hungry."

And that Harry was. He hadn't had a warm meal since the Hogwarts feast and told the Lady as much.  
Maybe that hadn't been the best thing to do, he considered afterwards, eating his stew while the woman ranted about irresponsible, filthy muggle guardians that were repulsively inappropriate to raise a Pureblood heir.  
Somewhere in the back of his head, this woman reminded him of Snape, Harry thought. Whether it was the sallow skin or the vocabulary, he wasn't sure.

Halfway through the meal, the woman stopped ranting and instead corrected his table manners. ("Don't hold your fork that way, young man! Didn't anybody teach you how to eat?")  
But eventually he managed to clean his plate, and after Kreacher had taken it away, he looked up at the lady in the portrait expectantly.  
"First things first, I suppose." the Black matron said, "Since we are going to be spending this much time together and are equals, we can hardly keep calling each other Lady and Lord."  
"Please call me Harry." Harry said immediately, relieved.  
"No, that won't do at all!" the woman cried out, "All Blacks have the name of a star sign. It would be too much of a coincidence if you were called the same as the Potter Heir. What about Cygnus, Acrox, Canopus or Pollux?"  
Harry wasn't really fond of these names. "Canopus?" he asked incredulously.  
"Perfect. That's a nice one. It means warrior, so it's fitting as well."  
The Black Lord wanted to say that he hadn't meant it like that, but the woman kept rambling about the strength of the name and that he had definitely chosen well, so he just sighed and folded.

That night he portkeyed back into his dim bedroom at Number 4 Privet Drive. As he fastened the locket his House Spirits had given him around his neck, he felt nothing, but in his cracked mirror, his reflection had converted back into the beaten, starved, scrawny body of Harry James Potter.

The next few weeks, he trained hard with Grandmother, as Lady Black insisted he called her. The first thing she had taught him, was how to lift the Ministery Tracking Charm, also known as the Trace from his wand and to cast a muggle repelling charm around his bedroom in Little Whinging so the Dursleys would leave him alone.  
He went back there at irregular intervals each day and slept there every night to convince the Order guards that he was still there and to keep his Mother's blood protection.  
On the other hand, he also made appearances as Lord Black in the streets of Magical London and sent letters to both Narcissa and Draco Malfoy, but they hadn't been answered yet.

He even went out to dinner with a few respected neutral families, but made sure never to enter their homes or let them come to his, just in case.

Grandmother had also assured him that no one could enter any of his properties without his permission, which kept him safe. She had also explained that it was impossible to cast a Fidelius Charm over a property that wasn't yours without permission of the owner and since Harry hadn't given his, Dumbledore had no longer any power over Grimmauld Place.  
This was the young Lord's best summer ever.

Up North, the summer wasn't going as well as Headmaster Albus Dumbledore had planned. He hadn't been able to find out the identity of the new Lord Black and had called yet another meeting about this mysterious figure.  
"Does anyone have new information about him?" he asked to the group of people gathered in one of Hogwarts conference rooms, they had yet to find a new meeting house.  
"No, the only thing I can find out is that he isn't dark, but hasn't shown any light tendencies either. All of the families he has been dining with so far are neutral." Nymphadora Tonks stated, a little put out with all the secrecy.  
"Give up, Albus. You are not going to find out anything he doesn't want you to know." Moody grunted and for once, Severus Snape agreed with the old auror.  
"Just keep your eyes open then." Dumbledore sighed. "We could really use him on our side, but even knowing he is Dark is better than this. At least we would know where we stood.  
"Next subject then. How is Harry doing?" he asked, the twinkle in his eyes returning.  
"Not too well, I'm afraid." Mundungus said. "The lad has lost a lot of weight and he looks more tired every day."  
"That's understandable after the death of his Godfather." Dumbledore nodded.  
"Still, it isn't right. He never cries or even speaks at all. His relatives were pretty vocal in the beginning, but now they seem to avoid him like the plague."  
"The brat has probably commanded to be left alone." The Potions Master snorted.  
"Now now, Severus, don't be so harsh. The boy has just lost a family member."  
Snape harrumphed but didn't say anything.

"What's Voldemort doing, Severus?" Minerva McGonagall asked, a little fed up with both previous topics. Snape twitched his arm as if stung and answered:  
"Not too much lately. He too is looking into the Black situation. He wants to recruit him, but doesn't dare to approach him just yet. He wants more information. Information that we cannot give him. He's in a foul mood." he shivered internally. Dark Lords in a foul mood were not desirable.  
"He has no attacks planned? Not even one?"  
"No." Snape said, "He is otherwise occupied."  
"With what? What is so important that he is delaying his entire schedule?" Minerva asked incredulously.  
"I told you. He is having us look into Lord Black."  
"All of you?"  
"Yes, all of us." he snapped. "Apparently, Draco got a letter from him asking for a meeting. He has been delaying his answer on the Dark Lord's orders, but he can't put it off much longer without being disrespectful."

"Why would Draco be in contact with Lord Black?" Dung asked confused.  
"Because he's a Black. I can't believe I forgot that!" Tonks exclaimed. "He is so Malfoy that I completely forgot that he's still under control of House Black."  
"How would he be a Black?" Dung slurred.  
"Through his mother, of course, you idiot."  
"Right, I knew that." he mumbled.

"Well, let us hope that we know something after that."

Back in Malfoy Manor, Draco sat in his quarters, reading the letter from Lord Black that he had received almost two weeks ago. It would be rude not to answer within the next few days, so he really hoped that he would get permission today. It was written quite nicely, he had to admit. And he seemed sincerely interested in his opinion.

He had been a little unnerved by the familiarity he had afforded, but he was his Lord, so he had every right.

He read it again.

_Draconis Lucius Malfoy_

_By now you've probably heard about me. I have recently come into my inheritance as the new Lord Black.  
As you know, you are a member of House Black through your mother. Now that a new lord has claimed the House, you are required to swear loyalty to the House and to me.  
I would understand however, if you would not want to be part of this because you have other responsibilities. There would be certain things I would require of you if you would agree to be a member of my House and there would be no use in swearing loyalty if you are not able to fulfill them._

So I give you a choice, Draconis. What I would like to do, is set up a meeting between the two of us, so we can talk about your options.  
Please send me a letter by calling Kreacher, my house elf.  
I'll send you a place and date back through him if should choose to consent.

_Sincerely  
Canopus Orion Black  
Lord of the most Ancient and Noble House of Black_

He heard his Father come up the stairs, so he quickly put the letter back in his drawer and pretended to be busy with his homework.  
"Draco!" his father yelled, he wondered what was going on, his father_ never_ yelled. "Get dressed. I've been summoned and our Lord wishes you to come with me."  
Draco felt his insides turn into ice. He had been instructed through his father a couple of times now, but he had never actually _met_ the Dark Lord.

He ran to his closet and opened the secret compartment that held his death eater robes and mask. It had been there waiting for him for quite some time now and now it was finally time.  
He wasn't sure if he should be excited or scared to death. Probably both, but at least he would get an answer about the letter.  
He got changed and ran to his father, who grabbed his arm and apparated both of them into Voldemort's lair.

They reappeared in place that Draco never would've expected to find the Dark Lord in. Then again, he thought, maybe that was just why he was here. It was a dreary, dusty place that looked uninhabited. As they quickly stalked through the corridors, Draco noticed something odd about the portraits, but he just couldn't say what it was.  
Then it came to him. They weren't moving. This was a muggle place, a manor most likely, and old and abandoned.

They entered a room that once must've been a ball room. There were ornately carved mirrors on the walls and the ceiling was decorated with little angels and clouds.  
Horribly muggle, not stylish at all.

The Dark Lord sat on a throne-like chair, his followers had gathered around him in two half circles. Draco let his father proceed into the one closest to their Lord, while he took a place all the way on one end of the outer one.

He wasn't part of the inner circle, he wasn't even marked, so he didn't really understand what he was doing here.  
Normally every new recruit would have to go through an initiation of some kind. If they succeeded, they would receive the Mark and could join their brethren in meetings.  
His presence was completely unexplainable.

"Welcome, my loyal followers." The Dark Lord said suddenly, his voice high and cold, you could almost smell the cruelty that came of his body, just in this one short sentence. Every member of the gathering, Draco included sank low into a bow. One by one, they crawled towards their Master to kiss the hem of his robes. Draco let all of them go before he went himself, as an Unmarked follower, he was the lowest of the hierarchy.  
When he had finally had his turn, he wanted to get back into formation, but the Dark Lord stopped him. "Draco Malfoy." he said. "You must be wondering why you are here."  
Draco didn't raise from his bow, but stayed low, his eyes directed at the floor in front of his Master and said: "I am here because you wished it, my lord."  
His Lord chuckled. "Yes, Draco. That's true. Your father trained you very well."  
The Malfoy Heir had to keep in a sigh of relief. Questions from the Dark Lord were always tests and he had passed the first one.  
"However, I did have a reason to bring you here. We have let Lord Black wait long enough for your answer, it is time that you wrote him a letter."

"What shall I write, my Lord?" Draco asked, keeping his voice soft and even.  
"You can take him up on his offer to meet you. Then you schedule an appointment and see what these _options_ are that he offered you."  
"Yes, my Lord."  
"After that, you report back to me and tell me everything you learned about him. And you better have learned something, Draco." he added, not even needing to take on a threatening tone to convey its meaning. "Consider it your inititation. Give me your arm."  
Without a single moment of doubt, Draco handed his Master his left arm.  
The Dark Lord muttered something that made the sleeve covering his fore arm disappear. Then he pointed his wand at Draco's arm and hissed a single word, that Draco didn't understand.  
It hurt, but not too much, this wasn't the real Mark, it was the initiation mark. If he failed his initiation, it would kill him. In the mean time, his Lord could use it to cause him pain, but it wouldn't apparate Draco towards him. At first sight, it looked exactly the same as the other Dark Marks, but this snake had its fangs clearly showing, ready to bite him at the first sight of treason, thus killing him immediately.

Draco didn't touch it, but hovered his fingers over it reverently. "Thank you, my Lord." he whispered. The Dark Lord made a shooing gesture at him, so Draco got up and, keeping his head bowed, scurried backwards out of the room. His father had told him to wait there for the rest of them to finish.  
This was a special mission, he knew no other Death Eater had received his initiation Mark in front of the others. He wondered why he had.  
The snake on his arm hissed threateningly, smelling that he was questioning their Lord. He immediately erased the thought and focused on his mission. He would have to start with a letter...

"Grandmother!" Harry yelled, "Grandmother, he finally wrote back and he accepted."  
"Please, child, keep your voice down, and remember your presentation! You are a Lord for Merlin's sake."  
Immediately Harry reigned in his enthusiasm and adjusted his shoulders. "I apologize, Grandmother." Then a cheeky grin spread over his face, "But it's sunday. I thought I deserved a day off."  
Walburga Black sighed. She had forgotten how tiring children could be, even for a portrait.  
"You can't just decide not to be a Lord on sundays, Canopus." she scolded.  
Harry rolled his eyes. "Fine, but don't you want to know what he said?"  
When his grandmother nodded slowly, he continued: "He wants to meet me next weekend."  
"Next weekend!" Lady Black interrupted, "But you are already back at Hogwarts next weekend."  
"I know, he wants to meet in Hogsmeade, he says, if it's not an inconvience for me."  
"But you won't be able to meet him, Canopus, you'll be in school!"  
"So, I'll sneak out of the castle. No problem. No one will even notice I'm gone."  
"Canopus Orion Black, you are NOT breaking school rules the first weekend back."  
Harry had to keep in a smile, naming himself after Sirius had been a good idea, every time she yelled his name, he was reminded that he should break the rules, Sirius would have done so.  
He knew he just had to convince his grandmother.  
"But, won't he get suspicious, Grandmother? If his earliest day of convenience is that weekend, I will always have to break school rules to make it to the appointment, no matter when it is scheduled. At least now I won't have too much homework." he tried  
He could see she was already coming around.  
"And I won't miss classes, I'll just tell them I'm going for a fly over the forest, I do that all the time, or that I want to go train in the Room of Requirement."  
"Fine. But be careful. We don't want your identity to come out that soon!" his grandmother folded.  
"Yes, Grandmother." Harry nodded solemnly, secretely whooping with his victory. "I'll go study for the meeting then, if you'll excuse me?"  
The painting nodded and he left the room to go upstairs to the library. It would only be five more days before he could go back to Hogwarts. This time he would even miss someone, he had missed Sirius of course, but that had been different. He could write to him. Paintings couldn't write and as much as Harry had tried to teach Kreacher so she could dictate him letters, it appeared that he couldn't learn it either. So he wouldn't have any possible way of meeting his grandmother while he was at Hogwarts. His ring wouldn't work at Hogwarts and even if it would, he couldn't risk Dumbledore seeing it.

After studying, he used his portkey to get back to the Dursleys. He knew he had to lift the muggle repelling charms today so there wouldn't be a trace of them after he left for Hogwarts, but he was reluctant to do it. He knew he would not starve any longer, but uncle Vernon would probably suspect magic when he could suddenly remember he had a nephew and if he knew one thing, it was that Vernon did not like magic.

The moment he lifted his wand to cast the counterspell, an owl flew into his room. At first, Harry stared at it incredulously, he hadn't had a letter since his birthday, Dumbledore's orders, he suspected and it could hardly be from the Ministry for Underage Magic, since he no longer carried the Trace.  
He picked up the letter. It was addressed to him, in the stiff handwriting he associated with a certain Headmaster. Curious, Harry opened it.

_Dear Harry_

_I'm sending you this letter to inform you that I'm picking you up tomorrow morning at ten to bring you to the Weasley Family. You can go to Diagon Alley to shop for the new school year tomorrow and you'll stay with them until you all go to King's Cross september first._

_I would advise you to buy some books about Heir duties while you are at Flourish and Blotts. You are after all the Potter Heir. _

_Sincerely  
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore_

Furious, Harry tossed the letter to the other side of the room, where it gently floated to the floor. How dare he, just this little mention of this duties, barely a week before the start of school. There was no way he would have been able to study all of the rules in this short time. There wasn't even a mention of the Potter Diaries he had gotten from his Vaults by sending a letter to Gringotts. He couldn't be seen in Diagon Alley looking like Harry Potter after all and it would be impossible for Lord Black to access the Potter Vaults without reveiling his secret.

Still, he would play along, Harry thought while he was dissolving the muggle repelling charms over his room and clothing, they wouldn't suspect a thing.  
He wasn't a Black for nothing after all. He only regretted that he wouldn't be able to say goodbye to Grandmother, but he could call Kreacher at the Burrow to convey the messsage.

The following morning, it seemed that part of the muggle repellents was that the victims wouldn't remember anything had ever been wrong. They left for the day on a trip, leaving their nephew outside, not wanting him to blow up the house while they were away. Harry was in the most pathetic outfit from Dudley that he owned, no longer intent on hiding his situation from Dumbledore.

At ten o'clock sharp, Dumbledore popped into his garden behind the large oak, so he couldn't be seen by the neighbours.  
"Hello Harry." he greeted merrily.  
"Headmaster!" Harry greeted happily while he jumped off his trunk.  
"Do you think we could go inside for a moment, there are some things I wanted to discuss with you before we left."  
Harry pretended to look up sheepish, not meeting Dumbledore's eyes, "I'm afraid that's impossible, sir, the Dursleys locked me out. They are away today." He had strenghthened his occlumency shields this summer, but hadn't been able to test them on a living person yet, so he made sure not to make eye contact.  
"Oh." Dumbledore didn't seem in the least put out, "In that case we shall leave immediately."  
"Yes sir. How do we get there?"  
"Have you ever apparated, Harry?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes twinkling.  
"I think so, sir." Harry said.  
"What?" now Dumbledore seemed surprised, "When, my boy?"  
"Accidental magic." Harry shrugged, conveniently forgetting to add that he had practiced within the protections of Grimmauld place and could do it at will too.  
"Oh, I suppose that's possible. That's very strong magic, Harry!"  
"It is? I didn't realise, sir." Harry mumbled.  
"That's quite alright, my boy. Now, while I thought I would need to ask you to convince someone of teaching this year, he accepted my offer right away, scared of Death Eaters. So we can go straight to the Burrow."  
Harry didn't understand the first part, but really wanted to see his friends, so he nodded eagerly.

"Hold my arm tightly, Harry."  
Then, after they had the feeling of being squeezed through a tube, they ended up before the house that he loved more than any other in the world, except maybe for Hogwarts. Grimmauld place was nice, but a little Dark for him and he had not had time to visit his Manors yet.

They went inside immediately and Harry got attacked by a girl with frizzy hair.  
He laughed happily and let himself fall backwards to the floor.  
He was home.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4. The Burrow**

"Merlin, Hermione, I know you're happy to see me, but you don't have to crush me to show it." Harry grinned.  
Hermione got back to her feet smiling. "Well, we didn't see each other for a long time and we couldn't even write to you except for that one little letter on your birthday!" she defended herself.  
"Don't you complain, mate. When she arrived last night, she was so happy to see me that she dropped her trunk on my foot." he showed him the bandage around it. "She carries way too many books in there!"  
Harry laughed. He had missed his friends.

"Oh, Harry. I didn't hear you come in!" Mrs. Weasley said, embracing him. Harry flinched as she touched his back exactly where his scars were. They weren't actually there any more, but he could feel them when he was in this disguise, even though they didn't actually hurt.  
Hermione narrowed her eyes suspiciously and inside Harry was panicking. He still didn't want anyone to find out about that part of the Dursleys, it was humiliating enough as it was.  
Showing Dumbledore that he didn't have decent clothes was one thing, admitting that muggles could hurt him was a completely different story.

"Harry, you are way too thin. Did you have breakfast before you came? Never mind. I'll make you some anyway. Are you joining us, Albus?" she then asked Dumbledore, who was still standing next to the door.  
"No thank you, Molly." he answered, "I have to get going. I'll see you at the next Order meeting." He waved goodbye, walked out of the house and disapparated mid-step.  
"Let's get to the kitchen then, Harry. The twins will get your trunk upstairs later."  
"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley." Harry said, a huge grin on his face.  
"No problem, dear. And call me Molly! You are part of the family, we aren't going to call each other Mr. and Mrs."  
So the Golden Trio sat down while Mrs. Weas... -Molly cooked more breakfast.  
"How was your summer, Harry?" Hermione asked. "Did you do your homework? You never answered my letter."  
"Wasn't allowed to write, remember? Dumbledore said so. It was fine and yes, I did my homework, finished it actually. The Dursleys let me keep my books for a change."  
"That's wonderful! Are they finally coming around?" the book worm asked, an excited look on her face.  
"Of course not." Ron answered for him, "They would sooner want to become wizards than actually be nice to him."  
Harry laughed, now that was something he would love to hear Dudley say. Vernon would have a fit.

Molly put a huge bowl of eggs and a plate with a large amount of toast on the table. Ron helped himself to a piece.  
"Ron, you just ate!" Hermione exclaimed.  
"So? I'm a growing boy, aren't I? I have to eat a lot."  
Hermione rolled her eyes exasperatedly and turned to Harry. "You definitely have to eat more than that, Harry!" Hermione said when he only took a small piece of toast and one spoon of eggs. "You really are too thin, I think you lost even more weight than other summers. Did the Dursleys feed you at all?"  
"Of course they did. Well, sort of anyway. It's just... Never mind." Harry couldn't make up excuses, because that would be lying. He was hoping Hermione would come up with something herself.  
"Was it because of Sirius?" she said, her voice suddenly softer and compassionate.  
"It had something to do with it." he mumbled, trying not to let relief get into his voice.

"Anyway, did you get your booklist yet? They are awfully late this year, aren't they." Harry changed the subject.  
"Yes, they arrived this morning. Yours too, actually. Probably didn't want to risk you missing it by sending it to the Dursleys. The books are quite interesting, I wonder who we have for defense." Hermione rambled.  
"Dumbledore said he convinced someone to teach, so we have a teacher." Harry shrugged.  
"Finally a competent one." Hermione smiled.  
"How do you know if he's competent?" Ron said, his mouth full of egg. It was a sign of their long friendship that they were able to understand him at all.  
"Because, Ronald, Dumbledore wouldn't convince someone who's a lousy teacher." she said slowly.  
"Right." Ron mumbled.

After breakfast they went upstairs to catch up on each other's summers.  
Suddenly they heard two large BANGs coming from the corridor.  
"Fred and George! How many times have I told you not to apparate in the corridors! You could fall down the stairs if you lose your balance!"  
"Sorry mum." Twin voices chorused.  
"Harry, my man." George said, opening the door.  
"Nice to see you!" the other twin continued.  
"Coming to Diagon Alley tomorrow?" they chorused.  
"Yes, we have to do our shopping for Hogwarts. Why?" he asked.  
"Perfect! You just have to-"  
"-visit our store. We-"  
"-invented something new that-"  
"-might come in handy with the DA." the twins smiled excitedly.  
"Um, guys, I'm not sure if I'm going to continue the DA." Harry said startled.  
"What do you mean, Harry? You are a great teacher! I've never scored so high on a Defense exam!" Hermione exclaimed.  
"Yeah, mate. Those lessons were really nice." Ron said quietly.

"I'll think about it." the raven haired boy said. He wondered if he could fit all of that into his schedule. He already was quite busy with his Lord and Heir duties, especially with the secret identity thing.  
"Just stop by then." the twins said. "Are you nervous, Harry? This is a really important start of the year!"  
So the twins knew what was happening, Harry thought, he wondered if Ron knew as well.  
"Important?" Ron and Hermione cried out. "What's important?"  
"Well, Harry is sixteen now. -" Fred started  
"-He has to fulfill his Heir duties for the Potter Family of course." George continued.  
"Heir duties?" his friends asked confused.  
"Ow, come on Ronnikens!"  
"Dad explained all this to us for a hundred times!"  
"Harry has to represent his Family values. He's from a most Ancient and Noble House!"  
"Oh, that." Ron mumbled.

"Dumbledore said something about that in his letter yesterday." Harry said, as if he just remembered. "Is it important?"  
"He said something _yesterday?_ You mean you didn't know before _yesterday?_" Fred exclaimed.  
"What's this about?" Hermione interrupted. "I don't know anything about this!"  
"Harry has to uphold tradition and behave like an Heir starting this year. Most pureblood children from a Noble Family have trained for this their whole lives." George explained.  
"And Dumbledore told Harry yesterday?" Hermione exclaimed. "How is he going to finish training?"

"I'll study for it of course. Dumbledore told me that there were books at Flourish and Blotts that could help me."  
"Yeah, mate. But that are a lot of books." Ron said, finding his tongue.  
"Doesn't matter. I'll study all day and all night if I have to." Harry said resolutely.  
"Could you pick them up for me if I gave you the money?" Harry said, turning to Fred. "I think I still have enough and I don't want to wait until tomorrow to start."  
"Sure, mate. We'll help you practice as well, if you want us to."  
"Perhaps." Harry agreed, "But I want to do the theory first."

He dug through his trunk, found his money bag and handed it to Fred. "Just buy every book they have on the subject. Have them put it on my tab if this isn't enough."  
"Gotcha, boss." George said. "Blessed be your day, Heir Potter." They both bowed low in a mock bow. At least, they wanted everyone to think it was a mock bow. Harry recognized it as an official inferior bow.  
How much did those two know? And more importantly , could he trust them?  
Deciding to take the risk, he played along, inclining his head in the correct manner and said: "And yours, Mr. Weasley, Mr. Weasley."  
They looked up at him, their eyes widening slightly in shock.  
"We'll get back as soon as possible." they promised, then they disapparated.

While waiting for the twins, they decided to go outside. With Ron's room being the highest in the house, it was really too hot to stay in. Ron and Hermione would go to the kitchen first to pick up some lunch, but they told Harry to go ahead. He suspected they were finally together.

He ended up by the Weasley's pond, where Ginny was reading a book in the sunshine, wearing a bathing suit, her feet dangling in the cool water.  
"Harry!" she yelled when she noticed him, "Nobody in this house tells me anything. When did you arrive?"  
"Just a few hours ago, Miss Weasley. I do apologize I did not come to greet you." Harry replied formally, he would not be able to lose the formality until he got her permission. Ron and Hermione were his siblings, they grew up together, that was different.  
Fred and George had addressed him by the title they knew and had been formal, so that hadn't been a problem either, but he really hoped Ginny would keep his secret as well as the twins. It wasn't as if he had any other choice.

Ginny looked up at him strangely. Then something seemed to dawn on her.  
"No problem, Heir Potter." she said with a wink, "And please do me the honor of calling me Ginny."  
"Only if you will call me Harry, Miss." he replied, already loosening his posture.

"I didn't know you studied this, Harry?" Ginny exclaimed, excitement radiating off her face.  
"Wel, officially I wasn't supposed to know about all this until yesterday. Luckily I found out earlier."  
"I don't understand." Ginny said softly. "Why would they hide it from you. We aren't even a Noble Family and even we got the basics from Dad."  
"Dumbledore, no doubt." Harry said sadly. "Just promise me not to reveil it to anyone until it's time. I can't lie directly, not anymore. I just have to hang on 'till tomorrow. Then I'll officially get the books to study all this."  
"And after that no one will suspect anything. I understand now, I'll keep your secret." she promised. "But how _did_ you find out?"  
"The goblins." Harry grunted. "I had to find out the truth from Gringotts."

Ginny wrapped her arm around him in comfort. He should gently push her away. This wasn't proper. The redhead noticed and said: "You're my brother, Harry, or at least you are to me. We can hug. It's perfectly fine. That goes for for all of the Weasleys by the way. So don't you worry about us."  
"Thanks, Gin." he smiled. "That will definitely make it easier to look ignorant until tomorrow."  
"No problem. Family helps each other out." Ginny said, pinching his shoulder painfully.  
"Hey! What did you that for?" he yelled.  
"Aw, big brother. Siblings annoy each other too. Just didn't want you to feel left out." she grinned.  
"Well you get that back then." Harry yelled. He tossed her book aside and dunked her in the pond.  
"Harry!" she screeched.  
"Sorry, sis." he grinned.  
"At least help me out!" she said grumpily, stretching out her hand for him to take.  
"Oh, no you don't." He laughed. "That one is older than I am."  
"Yes we do." he heard Ron's voice behind him and the next thing he knew, he was shoved into the cool water.  
Coughing, he came back back to the surface. "I thought you were on my side!" he muttered to Ron.  
"Sorry, mate. At Hogwarts I'm totally on your side, but you owed me that one since I got tied up next to Merpeople back in fourth year."  
"I suppose so." Harry sighed, refusing to let thoughts of Cedric or Voldemort ruin this day.

He got himself and Ginny out of the water and took off his shirt. It was soaked anyway. He could just as well catch some sun.  
Behind him he heard Hermione gasp. He cursed. He had forgotten about his back. The bad side of having two identities.  
"H-Harry." she stammered. "Who- Tell me they didn't!" he turned around sheepishly, now also showing the half healed bruises from earlier weeks covering his chest. He had been able to avoid the Dursleys mostly, but sometimes he had had to make an appearance, even if it was just for the guards' sake and those appearances had always cost him.  
"I'm going to kill them! I swear! They won't get away with this!" Ron lost his temper.  
They were now both ranting. Suddenly he felt a small, wet hand against his back, carefully tracing his scars and avoiding fresher wounds. "I'm so sorry, Harry." Ginny said, with tears in her eyes, "I never knew."  
"Doesn't matter." he replied, "You didn't know. Besides, I thought girls liked scars?"  
She swatted his arm weakly. "Not funny." she whispered. "Why didn't you tell us."

This seemed to awaken Hermione and Ron from their cursing. "Yes, Harry. Why didn't you? Don't you trust us?" "We're your best friends, mate!"  
"Sorry, guys. I just had to do this alone. I don't want to talk about it."  
This brought their attention back to his torso. Now that they had recovered from the initial shock, they noticed just how badly his ribs stuck out, his skin stretching tightly around them. His arms were thin like sticks. The little flesh he did have, was pure muscle, caused by doing chores and a little was left from quidditch trainings.  
"No wonder you couldn't eat." Hermione whispered.  
"Just forget about it. I'm still the same old Harry. Don't let this ruin the day. I don't have to go back there ever again. I'm planning on getting my inheritance a month early."  
"So?" Ron said. "Dumbledore will probably make you go back if you don't tell him, Harry."  
"I will have my own houses once I'm a Lord, Ron. Don't worry about me." he smiled.

"Now who's up for some picnic?"

They gathered around the large basket and ate sandwiches and ice cream (there was a cooling charm on the box) until they were so stuffed, that they couldn't even think about food anymore. Then they let themselves fall backwards into the grass and stared up at the sky, watching the clouds go by.  
"I wish everything could just stay like this." Ginny sighed quietly.  
"Then I'll try everything I can to end this war as soon as possible." Harry said. "I promise."  
Ginny knew how much his promises meant just like she knew that she didn't have to say anything right now.

A loud bang announced the return of the twins. They were carrying two large bags from Flourish and Blotts. "Here you are, little brother." they said, passing them to Harry. "That's all they had."  
"Just two bags?" Harry asked, a little surprised.  
"Of course not." Fred grinned.  
"They are shrunk." George continued.  
"We have about fifty books with us, the rest of them is ordered and will arrive tomorrow and the day after."  
Harry sighed.  
"I have to get to work then." he said. "I would appreciate it if you just leave me alone to do this." he added when he saw Hermione get up to help him. "I will learn faster that way."  
"Sure Harry." she said. "Just yell if you need us to practice."  
"I will." the Potter Heir said.

Then he picked up the bags and walked up to Ron's room.  
He looked through the collection to check if there were books that he hadn't read yet.  
_Courting or dating: a guide to a girl's hand_ looked promising, even though he didn't need it yet. He could never be enough prepared. At least he would learn what not to do, so he wouldn't create expectations and he wouldn't be oblivious to a girl giving him signs in return.  
Besides that one only _Dancing and Galas _was something he actually didn't have. The last one would probably come in very handy. He would have to ask Ginny or Hermione to teach him the practical part though. Being taught how to dance by a portrait was useless.  
Grandmother had figured that out quickly enough and had given up on him.  
They were both something to read later though, so he dug up one of the books he had brought from the Black library and continued to study them.

It had gotten dark by the time that he had finished it, so he went downstairs for dinner.  
"Oh, Harry dear, I was just telling Ginny to come and get you. How did your studying go?"  
Apparently his friends had told her what he was trying to do.  
"Pretty good, thank you." he said, sitting down. He was hungry, so he was glad his glamour locket covered the entire 'I've been starved all summer so I can't eat a lot'. He could eat as much as he wanted and to others it would seem he had only taken one or two pieces of chicken.

"No, Molly, thank you. I really had enough." he refused the full plate the Weasley matriarch was trying to shove his way. "I think I'll go study some more. Do you think you could help me Hermione?"  
"Sure." the girl said, probably happy to get some additional studying done.

When they arrived upstairs he asked her to teach him how to dance.  
"Of course, Harry, but are you sure that's a priority right now?"  
"I have to learn eventually and I can't wait until there's a ball just a week away. It takes some time to learn. Or at least, that's what the book said." he shrugged.

It turned out Hermione was a great dancer. After a while Ron and Ginny came in to check on them. "Oh, dancing!" Ginny smiled. "Can I try, Harry?"  
So Hermione walked over to Ron while Harry led his sister around the room.  
"You're doing great!" Ginny said after a while. "Are you sure you haven't done this before?"  
"I've tried to learn it without a partner, but it just isn't te same." Harry grinned. "You are a great dancer yourself."  
"Why thank you, Heir Potter." she teased.

It was quite late before they finally got to bed. "This was a great day." Ron murmered after the girls had gone to Ginny's bedroom and Harry lay on the cot next to his bed.  
"Yes it was." Harry answered. He really had to try and get some sleep. They would go to Diagon Alley early in the morning. This would be his first real test as the Potter Heir and he was a little nervous. What if he ran into someone who recognized him as Lord Black? What if he screwed up?  
He tried not to think about things like that and eventually fell asleep.

He dreamt about a young black shaggy dog that was running through a forest. After a while it met with a deer and a wolf, then they ran together. He wasn't in the dream himself, but still felt really happy. As if his father, godfather and favourite teacher all said he could do this, that they were there to help him if he needed them.  
He would be fine tomorrow.

**That's the end of Chapter 4. I hope you liked it!  
Please rate and review.**

**I'm not a native speaker of English. If you see a mistake somewhere, please let me know!**

**Next chapter: Diagon Alley and the Hogwarts express.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5. Diagon Alley and the Hogwarts Express**

"Stop looking at those brooms, Ronald! They all look the same anyway. We still have a lot of shopping to do." Hermione said, losing her patience.  
"We haven't been here for that long." Ron answered, his ears glowing red, "Besides, you always waste our time at Flourish and Blotts."

Harry groaned. This was going to take a while. Once those two started bickering, nobody would be able to stop them.  
"Uhm, guys, we should get going." Tonks interrupted the arguing couple.  
"You see, Ron. I was right. We're losing time." Hermione smiled in victory.  
"Just because you wanted to start a fight instead of letting me watch quietly." Ron bit back.

Tonks started to look desperate. "How do I stop those two?" she whispered.  
"Just get going." Harry answered. "They won't stop until they are finished, but they'll follow us."  
So far the day had gone well, he thought to himself, not listening to the argument behind him. They had already visited the apothecary for potions ingredients. He hadn't managed to get an O for Potions and neither had Ron, but he had decided do some independent study. Hermione had promised that he could borrow her class notes. He suspected that she was proud that he finally took his studies seriously and Ron had thought he was mental of course. They had been to Ewlop's to get more owl treats as well. Mrs. Weasley had taken Ginny to Madam Malkin's for new robes, while Tonks, disguised as an elderly witch, accompanied them to get everything on their lists. They would meet up at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes in fifteen minutes.

Harry had to get some new robes himself, since he didn't have any besides his school uniform but he couldn't be seen in Muggle clothing anymore now that he was an Heir and since he obviously he couldn't wear the same clothes as Lord Black. He would get them while the rest of the Weasleys were browsing through the Twins' shop.  
Right now, he was wearing his dress robes from fourth year. Tonks had spelled them black for him, since he wasn't supposed to be able to do magic during summer holidays himself.

He had added the Potter crest by simply touching his Heir ring to the fabric. Since the charm had been done by the ring and not by Harry, there was no problem with the Trace.

It was crowded in Flourish and Blotts, so it didn't take long before he got seperated from the others. He wasn't concerned though, he knew they were close and was quite convinced that Voldemort wouldn't try anything in plain sight.

He gathered the books on his list and asked the cashier to add those that the twins had ordered for him.

He looked around for his friends, but since he couldn't see them, he decided to wait outside. It would only be a matter of time before people started to stare at his scar and he wasn't in the mood for excited fans.

He put down his bags and picked up a random book to occupy himself while waiting.

"Well well, if it isn't Harry Potter." an unfamiliar voice suddenly said.  
Harry immediately dropped his book into the paper bag and looked up.  
He didn't recognize the man in front of him, but he did know the Family Crest. This was Theodore Nott Sr.  
"Lord Nott." Harry said calmly, while making an elegant bow. "I don't think we've met before."  
Nott looked a little surprised that he knew the Pureblood ways, but nodded in return, his eyes wandering to Harry's hand, where the Heir ring sat proudly on his ring finger.  
"No, we haven't, Harry." the lord said, "but I'm happy that we meet now. I believe that you know my son, Theodore?"  
"We have some classes together at school." the Potter Heir replied, "But I'm afraid that I can't say that I actually know him." He wondered where Nott was going with this. He was a death eater, one that had been there at the resurrection of Voldemort. He had been mentioned by name, so the man had to know that Harry knew where his alliances were.  
"He's a good boy. He'll make a fine Lord some day." the Lord smiled thinly, "I have high expectations of him."  
Maybe Nott was trying to let Harry know that his son would be a death eater one day? He didn't really get what the lord meant, but still nodded in understanding.  
"I wish him the best of luck." he said in a polite tone, "Now, if you'll excuse me, Lord Nott, I see my friends and I'm on a tight schedule today. I have to get going."  
"Of course, Harry. I'm sure we'll see each other soon."  
That sentence gave him goosebumps, but he tried not to let it show.  
"Lord Nott." he said, bowing. Then he turned around and calmly walked back to his friends.

"Did you know him, Harry?" Ron asked. Hermione smacked his head.  
"Hey, what did you do that for?" the redhead asked, rubbing the sore spot.  
"Do you see him bowing to all the people he knows, Ron? He was probably a Lord, right Harry?"  
"She's right," Harry said and rolled his eyes when he saw Hermione's familiar 'of course I'm right' expression. "It was Lord Nott."  
"But... didn't you say he was a death eater?" Hermione said completely baffled.  
"He is." Harry nodded, "But I still have to keep up my manners, it doesn't matter if he's evil."

"You can't be serious, Harry! Are you saying that you have to bow for you-know-who too?" Ron exclaimed.  
This time it was Tonks who hit the boy. "Of course not! That thing isn't even a Lord. And even if he was, I doubt that Harry would bow for him."  
Harry grinned at his friends' antics and answered: "He could try to claim the Slytherin inheritance, since he's always boasting about being his Heir, but I doubt the Ministery would just let him waltz into Gringotts like that. And even if he was a Lord, I still don't have to answer to him. I can call in a honor's debt."  
Tonks gasped and Hermione looked at him in confusion. "What is that, Harry? I've never heard of that before. How come I haven't found any of these rules you have to study in the Hogwarts Library before?"  
"They are only meant for Heirs and Lords, Hermione. I could try to loan you the books and you wouldn't even be able to read them. That's why I couldn't ask for any help either. It's supposed to be done alone, as a way to prove yourself.  
And an honor's debt can be called when a part of a most Ancient and Noble House is attacked without reason. It doesn't happen too often though, it's too dangerous for both the attacker and the family of the victim. Voldemort attacked my parents while they had never harmed or even tried to hurt him.  
I am the only surviving member of the Potter family, so I can call in the honor's debt and ask for a fair duel. It is rumoured that Magic itsself chooses the side of the one who is most honorable. That one will win the duel. If you call on an honor's debt and are proven dishonorable by Magic, the entire Family gets cursed. They won't be able to reproduce and the name will cease to exist."

"So if you would call in that debt against Voldemort and you would be considered honorable, what would happen then?" Hermione asked. Harry could see that she understood.  
"I would win the duel." he said simply.  
"He forgot to mention something." Tonks said, a nervous look on her face.  
"What?" Hermione asked. "Can something go wrong?"  
"On the contrary, Hermione." the metamorphmagous stated, "It is considered suicide to get into an Honor's debt against a Potter."  
"Why?" Ron said, finally waking up from his stupor.  
"A Potter is known for his honor and honesty." Tonks explained. "They always win the duel."

They were all silent for a moment.  
"Is that what he has to do then?" Ron asked, getting excited, "he just has to call that debt against Voldemort and he would win?"  
"It isn't that simple, Ron." Harry said. "Voldemort isn't even a Lord now and he's refusing to claim the title for that exact reason. The chance that I'll be able to use this against him is really small."  
"Oh" his best friend said.  
"Just forget about it for now, okay? Voldemort may be hungry for power, but he isn't this stupid."  
His friends nodded, looking a little sheepish.  
"Well, what are you guys waiting for? We have to get to the shop so I can get tortured by Madam Malkin and her evil needles." He said with a smirk.  
He looked incredibly Slytherin just then, Hermione thought. Then she shook her head and ran to catch up with the others.

* * *

"Well that's it, Heir Potter. Was it that bad?" Madam Malkin asked, an annoyed look on her face. Harry had been struggling the entire time, making it really hard for her to do her job properly.  
"Thank you, Madam Malkin. I really appreciate it." the young Heir said, jumping off the small podium. "Would it be okay if I sent for someone to pick them up?"  
"Of course." the old lady said. "I'll have some ready tomorrow so you have something to wear and I could send the rest of it to Hogwarts for you."  
"That's great! Thank you." Harry exclaimed. He got a handfull galleons from the never-ending money pouch for the Potter Vault and gave them to the smiling woman.  
"This is for your trouble." He said when Madam Malkin protested that he had already paid in advance. "I know I'm not an easy shopper." he added.  
The lady accepted the gold and let him out.

"I'm done." Harry exclaimed happily to Tonks, who had been waiting outside.  
"I can see that." the young woman said, back with her normal -well, not normal-, bubblegum pink hair. "You would think they just pushed you into a room full of angry Snapes." she laughed.  
Harry shivered. "Not quite that bad, but it was close." he said.  
Tonks looked at the Potter crest on his chest with a sad smile. "I wish I could wear a crest." she said. "My mother was part of the Black family once, but she got kicked out when she got married to my dad. Don't take it wrong, I love my dad and I don't mind being a half-blood, but I just think it would be nice to be part of a family."  
Harry gave her a small smile in return. "I know how you feel." he said.  
"Oh, Harry!" she exclaimed, "I.. I didn't mean it that way, you know that right!"  
"I do." he reassured her. "When I got this ring I felt the Family Spirits welcome me and it felt really nice. I just wish I could do something for you."  
"You can't." Tonks said. "Don't worry about it. Whe should get going."  
While they were walking back to the Twins' shop, Harry was deep in thought. Was there a way to get that part of the Black Family back in? Wouldn't it be strange if Lord Black did that?  
Yes it would. So he would have to wait for a reason. There was no other option.

"There you are!" Mrs. Weasley said when they entered the shop. "We're leaving in fifteen minutes, so if you want to look around before you go, you better hurry."  
"I will. Thank you, Molly." Harry said. It still felt weird to call her that, he thought while he was looking for his friends.  
"Excuse me." a small female voice asked behind him. "Are you Harry Potter?" Harry repressed a groan and turned around, hoping it wasn't a fan.  
"How can I help you, Miss?" he asked in a friendly manner, making a polite bow.  
The girl laughed a little. "Becky Merrywater." she said. "I work here. Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasly asked me to send you to the back as soon as you'd arrived."  
Now very happy that he hadn't snappedd, he nodded. "Thank you, Miss Merrywater." he said and moved through the crowds towards the back of the shop.  
"It's Becky!" the girl yelled. Then she went back to the customers.

"Harry!" Ron yelled. "Finally! Is there anything left in the shop?"  
"Very funny." he mumbled. He found Fred and George in a corner and mouthed. "Call me Harry." They smiled in relief and whispered for him to do the same.  
"Our dearest investor!" Fred said.  
"We are very proud to present-" The other twin continued.  
"The best invention of the century"  
"The ideal practice instrument"  
"For dueling"  
"The Dueling Dummies." they yelled together.  
Behind them was a large greyish puppet, shaped like a regular wizard, holding a wand.  
"What does it do?" he asked, after studying it for a minute.  
"What does it do, he asks." Fred laughed.  
"It duels against you of course!" George answered. "You send a spell at it, it measures your magic level and then sends a spell back that matches your level. It runs on your spells, so it stops when you're tired or when you're disarmed."  
"It's also to prevent that they are used as weapons." Fred added. "They have to be powered not-stop."

"That's great, guys! It could be very interesting to use with the DA." Harry said excited. "Can I try?"  
"Sure." they said. "Stand back everyone. Good. Now, Harry. Send a spell at it on your normal level of power."  
Harry took a dueling stance.  
"It activates when you bow." Fred instructed.

So the raven haired boy did just that. Immediately the puppet copied his stance.  
"Stupefy." Harry said and a red beam hit the puppet in the chest.  
Golden letters floated above the dummy. "98" it said.  
He ducked quickly when the thing sent him a body bind back.  
When he turned around to his friends, they all looked like he had hit them with that body bind.

"What?" he asked uncomfortably, "Did I do something wrong?"  
"Harry," Hermione whispered, "Our average was 56. Ginny scored highest with 68 and the twins said that was exceptional.  
"Oh." he said.  
"Apparently, you are very strong." Ginny said. Ron nodded, his mouth still opened slightly.  
"Try your best." George instructed. "Take cover everyone."  
Harry waited until they had all ducked behind a heavy chest in a corner before bowing again and firing an expelliarmus. The moment the green spell hit the dummy, it flew back to the wall, it's wand rolling to Harry's feet. At first he thought he had broken the thing, but then it got up and the golden letters said: "176."

"Dear Merlin." the twins whispered.  
"Do you have something to compare with?" Harry asked stupidly.  
"An average wizard would get around 130. Dumbledore is rumoured to be 204." Hermione said. "But he's really old and the level gets higher as you age."  
"So, how many would I have when I'm..." Harry started.  
"About 270?" Hermione said in a thin voice. "I'm not sure. Has your magic matured yet?"  
"How do I know?" He asked. He hadn't noticed any change yet.  
"It hasn't then." everyone chorused.  
"You would know, Harry." Hermione explained. "It's impossible to miss."  
"Ours did last month." the twins added. A blue light surrounded us for a second and the next levitation spell we did, made the box shoot through the ceiling."  
"Please don't tell anyone." Harry said after a moment of thought. "I could use this as an advantage."  
They all agreed and went to Twins' appartment upstairs to floo back to the Burrow.

* * *

"Are you ready to go?" Mr. Weasley asked for the last time.  
"I'm going to miss you all so much! Take care of each other, okay?" Mrs. Weasley said, wiping away a tear from the corner of her eye.  
"We always do, don't we?" Harry reassured her. "We'll be fine."  
They were at platform nine and three quarters and they really had to get on the train if they didn't want to miss it.

They hugged Mrs. Weasley one more time and went to look for a compartment.  
In the back, they found Neville and Luna alone, so they went in with them.  
"Heir Potter, a pleasure to see you again." Neville said as soon as they had closed the door. He made a small equal's bow.  
"Heir Longbottom, the same of course. How was your summer?" Harry answered, returning the bow.  
"Very enjoyable thank you. Please call me Neville." the other boy said.  
"Only if you will call me Harry. The Longbottoms have always been friends of our Family and I would like to keep that tradition the same." he suggested.  
"I would like that." Neville smiled and turned to Harry's friends to complete the greetings.

"Miss Lovegood. A pleasure as always." Harry continued, now directing his attention to the young Lady-to-be. He made an elegant bow and kissed the hand that the blonde offered.  
"As it is for me, Heir Potter. Would you please do me the honor of calling me Luna?"  
"The honor is mine." Harry said smoothly, "Call me Harry."

The girl nodded and after smiling to Harry's companions, she returned to her Quibbler.  
"Well, we have to go to the Prefect compartment for a while. We'll be back soon." Ginny said.  
Ron and Hermione waved goodbye as well and Harry said down opposite to Luna.  
She was wearing a root on a string around her neck that he wouldn't have recognized before his extra studying this summer. He knew for a fact that it wasn't kept at Hogwarts. It was a piece of Bloodroot. It was supposed to destroy animal cells when you used it in a potion.  
But why would Luna have that around her neck.  
He opened his mouth to ask when Luna said. "It keeps the Dabberblimps away. Today feels weird." she added.  
Nothing the wiser, Harry dropped the subject.

* * *

Ron and Hermione had returned, Ginny had joined her year mates and the train was almost at the Hogwarts by the time Malfoy decided to pay their compartment a visit. Surprisingly, he was alone.  
"Heir Malfoy. I hope you had a pleasant summer?" Harry asked politely, making a fluent equal's bow. Neville greeted him in a similar manner and Luna just nodded before focusing on her Quibbler again.  
"Heir Potter, Heir Longbottom, Miss Lovegood." Malfoy replied curtly. "I am looking for my companions Crabbe and Goyle, have you seen them by any chance? When I came back from the prefect's meeting they were gone."  
All the occupants of the compartment stared at Malfoy, completely surprised by his polite tone.  
"No we haven't." Hermione replied in the same way.  
Malfoy ignored her completely and kept his attention focused on Harry and Neville.  
"I'm afraid that we can't help you, Heir Malfoy. We do wish you the best of luck with your search." Harry said.  
"Thank you. I will take my leave then now. Heir Potter, Heir Longbottom." he said, then he closed the compartment door and left.

"What the hell was that?" Ron asked before the train came to a stop.  
"He was required to be polite." Neville explained.  
"Then why did he ignore us?" Hermione asked indignantly.  
"You aren't from a Noble House." Harry explained. "I'm sorry, Hermione, but at least he has to stop insulting you before you do first."

"Well that's something I suppose. Where do you think Crabbe and Goyle are?"  
"Don't have a clue." Ron answered, grabbing his left over candy and stuffing it in his pockets. "But I hope they have a good excuse for leaving, because Malfoy won't be happy."

They all laughed and climbed into a carriage.

Harry sat down and immediately looked over his shoulder, he felt as if a wand was pointed at him.  
"What's the matter, Harry?" Hermione asked, a worried look on her face.  
"Nothing." he said, blinking his heavy eyelids. "I think I'm just tired."  
"You'll feel better after the feast." Ron said happily. "I hope they have lamb chops."  
"You just ate pounds of candy!"  
"What's it to you?"

What ever this year would bring. At least some things would never change, Harry thought when Hermione whacked Ron on the head.

**That's the end of yet another chapter! I hope you enjoyed it. It took a little longer to update, I'm sorry. My classes started again and I don't have as much time as during the Christmas Holidays.  
Merlin! I've got over 100 followers. I'm so excited. I never thought you guys would like it this much. Please review and let me know what you think!  
The more reviews, the happier I get and I write faster when I'm happy. (hint hint)**

**Should I keep the DA going? I'm not sure.**

**I'm not a native speaker of English, please let me know when you find a mistake.**

**Next chapter: Draco meets Lord Black, juggling two identities: is it possible?**


	6. Chapter 6

**I know! It took me a really long time before updating. But I have some good news: the chapter is twice as long as the ones before! Hope that makes up for it?  
Enjoy**

**Chapter 6. Meeting Draco**

Harry stared at the horse like creatures that pulled the carriages. Although he had never been able to see them before, he knew what they were and they filled them with sadness.  
He wished that they were still invisible.

Luna squeezed his arm lightly in comfort. He smiled at her. "You too?" he asked quietly while Ron and Hermione were still bickering.  
"My mom." Luna said softly, "She liked to experiment, but one day it went wrong. I was eight."  
"I'm sorry." he said sincerely.  
"It's okay." Luna said, resuming her dreamy voice, "It was a long time ago."  
They were in front of the Hogwarts gates now, so they had to get out of the carriage.

"I'm so happy to be back." Hermione sighed with a smile as they made their way up to the door. They could see little lanterns floating down the lake next to the castle. The first years were coming closer. It was a beautiful, cloudness night, showing the stars clearly visible.  
Harry instinctively looked up to gaze at them while they walked.  
"Yeah." he said, "Me too."

They entered the castle and made their way to the Great Hall. The four House banners decorated the walls and the ceiling showed the exact same starry sky from outside.  
They parted from Luna and sat down at Gryffindor table next to the other sixth year students, who immediately yelled cries of welcome across the table.  
Definitely not any other nobility, Harry determined, saying hello to everyone.  
He had expected it of course, most Ancient and Noble houses that had had a reputation of being Gryffindor, had not survived the last war. They had been brave fighters, but had not left any children behind to continue their House.  
There was one Heir in Gryffindor seventh year, from a Family that was usually sorted into Ravenclaw. His name was Cormac McLaggen and Harry didn't like him at all. He always pretended to be better than everyone else and had younger years fetch things for him.  
But still, when he spotted the guy on the far end of the table, he inclined his head politely and got the same, although a little bit cocky, in return.

His year mates had their attention on Slytherin table when he tried to get back into the conversation.  
"Look at them. What do they think they are doing?" Dean Thomas laughed, while pointing at the bowing and composed looking boys.  
"They do it every year." Seamus answered, "I don't really understand why though."

"It's because of their family." Hermione explained, kicking into teacher mode, "They are sixteen now, so they have to act that way." She wanted to continue, but they wouldn't let her finish.  
"Ridiculous. Slytherins are completely crazy." Dean said, laughing hard.  
"Actually, Harry and Neville are Heirs as well." Hermione interrupted again.  
"Yeah? Maybe then, but you don't see them getting up every other minute to bow at each other."  
"We already have that part over and done with." Harry said with a gentle smile.  
At first everyone laughed, but then they noticed he was serious.  
"You have got to be kidding me, mate? You're not like those slimy dimwits, right?"  
"Just let it go." Ron said in a hurry.  
"No, Ron. I want them to understand." Harry said and Neville nodded in agreement.  
"You will see us acting like that occasionally, but not around you, since you are not from a most Ancient and Noble House."  
"So, we're not good enough for you?" Seamus exclaimed, "Why don't you ask for another dorm then? One with people who are wealthy enough for you to hang out with."

"It's not like that." Neville said. "We have to..."  
"I don't want to hear about it!" Dean yelled. "Don't talk to us. You don't want to bring shame onto your 'families' by talking to low people like us."  
"That's not-" Hermione started.  
"It's okay, Hermione." Harry said. "They don't want to understand."

McGonagall chose that time to enter with the first years. They looked extremely nervous and were whispering anxiously.  
"Now, in a moment I'll call out your name, you will then come forward, sit down and put this hat on." McGonagall said, holding up the sorting hat. "It will choose the House you will be in for the next seven years."  
The whispering now sounded a little relieved, Harry noted amused. He remembered how Ron had thought they would have to wrestle a troll and wondered what kind of stories had gone around this year.

_It has been a long time now  
that sorting students is my task.  
The founders made four Houses  
each with their own ways.  
Ravenclaw the wise and smarts  
eager to learn more,  
Slytherin the cunning and ambitious  
__prepared for anything they're in for__.  
Gryffindor the brave and fierce,  
__and ever standing strong__,  
Hufflepuff the kind and loyal,  
__with friends always tag along__.  
But Houses are not everything,  
please remember __trust__.  
__Dark times are coming, it's been predicted.  
And choosing sides will be a must.  
Don't take it lightly and don't forget  
that there is more than black and white.  
A new old side will claim its right,  
it will not stand forgotten.  
But sides are not Houses  
and Houses not sides.  
They do not mean the same,  
__so please  
__keep that in mind._

_Enough with this foretelling,  
a happy moment it is now.  
Just sit down and put me on  
and I'll show you where to go!_

Everyone applauded, though they looked a little confused.  
The sorting hat gave some advice now and then, but this was more than they had ever heard him say.  
Harry was wondering what the hat knew and where it got its information.

After the students were sorted, the opening feast could truly begin. Soon their golden plates were filled with food ("Finally!" Ron stated.) and even faster, they had been cleaned again and everyone had trouble keeping their eyes open.  
"Welcome back at Hogwarts, everyone." Dumbledore said, standing in front of the head table with a grandfatherly smile on his face. "I know you are all tired, so I'll keep it short. It is my joy to welcome back Professor Slughorn, who will resume his position of Potions professor."

"What?" Hermione whispered confused, but who-?"  
"Which means of course that our own Professor Snape will take over the Defense against the Dark Arts."  
The entire Gryffindor table groaned, along with most of the students of the other tables.  
Slytherin on the other hand, cheered and gave a loud applause.

"Do you think Slughorn is okay?" Ron asked.  
"He was the head of Slytherin before Snape." Hermione said.  
"Oh no! Not a second Snape, right?" their redhead friend panicked. "I'm very happy that I dropped potions all of a sudden. I can handle one Snape, but two?"  
Laughing about that, Harry helped his prefect friends to get the first years up to the tower.  
"Lion's roar." Hermione said, speaking loud enough for all the first years to hear.  
"Come on now, climb through. Hurry up." Ron said from the back of the row.  
Ginny was trying to calm down a muggleborn student, who seemed a little overwhelmed with the entire 'changing staircases' thing.

Since everyone was that busy, it wasn't really hard for Harry to stay at the back and wait until the Fat Lady had closed again.  
"Good evening, Lady Rose." he said, with a flourishing bow. "How are you this beautiful evening?"  
"Heir Potter. Quite the charmer." the portrait answered with a smile. "I'm happy that you finally learned about your heritage. All the portraits have been trying to convince Dumbledore to do so for ages!"  
"Thank you." Harry said. "I really appreciate it."  
"You'd better go inside now, before they miss you." the Fat Lady said, before swinging open without asking for the password.  
"You are probably right." Harry said while climbing through.  
"Don't forget to come back and talk to me another time!" The Fat Lady replied.

"Where did you go all of a sudden?" Neville asked him when he got in the common room.  
"I was saying hello to the Fat Lady." Harry said. "Don't worry." he added, when Neville got a panicking expression, "They don't expect you to bow to every portrait. I just like her. That's all."  
"If you say so, Harry." the round faced boy said, relief evident on his face.  
Harry did like the portrait, he liked most of them. They had all helped him find a classroom or a person at some point and he talked to them quite often.  
After being treated as he had been at the Dursleys, he never wanted anyone to feel like they were invisible.

It didn't take long before he called it a night and went up the stairs to his dorm. A small note was on his pillow.

_Mr. Potter_

I expect you and Mr. Longbottom in my office tomorrow morning before breakfast.  
There are some arrangements that have to be made.  
Enjoy your first night back.  


_Sincerely  
Minerva McGonagall  
Head of Gryffindor House  
Deputy Headmistress_

Worries for tomorrow, Harry thought. He changed into one of the new pyjamas he had bought at Diagon Alley a few days ago and fell asleep the moment his head hit his pillow.

He woke up ridiculously early the following morning. He changed into his uniform without opening the hangings around his bed, a habit to avoid showing his scars to his dorm mates, and went down to the common room.  
For a while he just paged through his DADA book. He might not like Snape, but at least he seemed to be able to pick out a good instruction manual. Remembering the man's potions lessons, he memorized the first chapter and continued with the second one after he'd finished. He just knew he was going to get some unfair questions and he wanted to be at least a little bit prepared.

About half an hour before breakfast, Neville came down as well.  
"Good morning." he said, still a little bit sleepy. "Have you been up long?"  
"For quite a while, yes. I woke up early. Ready to go?"  
Harry wrote his friends a note and then they left together. McGonagall's office was next to the Transfiguration classroom on ground level so it took them some time to get there, but there were still 15 minutes until breakfast, so they should be okay.

"Excellent, you are on time." Professor McGonagall said. "We have a few things to discuss."  
"Have a seat." she continued after she had closed the door.  
"I know that the two of you are heirs and I just wanted to explain how that influences your life here at Hogwarts. Don't worry." she continued before they could panick, "It's not that much of a difference. On the contrary actually, we're trying to avoid that everything changes for you. Firstly, no one of the staff will address you with your Heir title. You will be just another student. In return, you are not required to keep their titles into account either.  
How you use your etiquette in relation with the sixth and seventh years is completely up to you, but those younger than you will not be obligated in any way to address you with the Pureblood Wizarding Ways."  
"What about our dealing with them?" Harry asked when he noticed she left that part out, "How do we address them?"  
"That is your choice." their head of House said. "You can pretend nothing's changed or you can keep to the code of conduct you would follow outside the school. Any more questions?"  
When both of the boys shook their heads, she added:  
"I know that there isn't a lot of the old nobility in Gryffindor, but there are some in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff and a lot in Slytherin. They, like you, wear their Family crest on their robes, so you won't have any problems recognizing them. From my experience, the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs don't really mind when you don't follow the rules. The Slytherins are really attached to them, but again, it is your decision. Here are your time tables, I asked Hagrid to hand out those from the other Gryffindors."  
The two boys thanked their professor and hurried to the great hall, hoping that Ron hadn't eaten all of the bacon on their side of the table.

"We have to hurry up, you two." Hermione said, ushering Harry and Ron forward. "You know we have potions first and I want a good seat.  
"I still don't understand why you want us to come with you, we didn't qualify for potions without an O, remember?" Harry tried to stop his friend.  
"Nice try, Harry." the bushy haired girl answered. "Slughorn just announced before you got to the great hall that he does take students with an E, which I do so happen to know the both of you have."  
He didn't know if he should be happy or disappointed, Harry thought, he wouldn't have to study it by himself, but he had really hoped never to set foot in those dungeons again.  
They sat down in the front and Harry got out his potions book.

The professor turned out to be alright, though he didn't like the way Slughorn was looking  
at him the way he was. It turned out that with the extra studying and without Snape, he was quite good in potions. He understood what he was doing and that kept him from making mistakes he would have made the year before.  
Slughorn was strolling around in the class room, checking up on the students.

"Nice work, Mr. Potter. I would say you've inherited some of your mother's talent. Draught of the living death is a difficult potion to make." the man looked pleased with himself, "I taught her myself. Such a smart girl she was, Lily. A terrible shame..."  
He stopped talking at looked at Harry. "I'm hosting a few parties this year and I would be delighted if you'd join in?"  
He didn't really want to accept, but knew it would be rude it decline, so he said: "That would be great, professor. But, do I know any of the other guests?"  
"I'm still deciding, dear boy, but you can of course bring a date." he said with a wink.  
"Thank you, professor."

"You're welcome. Now, everyone, time's up, bottle your potions, label them and leave them on your desk."

"He wasn't too bad, right?" Hermione said. "At least he explained some things. I think I've learned more now than in an entire year with professor Snape. I think I can even drop the extra books, since he's telling everything in class."  
"That's great, Hermione." Ron mumbled, not paying attention.

They had Transfiguration next and again, Harry was doing better than before.  
He knew that McGonagall had noticed too, but wanted to avoid her questions, so he left as soon as the bell announced the end of their class.

But he could run as far as he wanted, he would never be able to avoid Hermione's questions.  
"Please Harry, it's just impossible! How did you get this good all of a sudden. I mean, I'm happy for you of course, but why now?" she asked when they got back in the common room that evening.  
"I told you, 'Mione, I studied a lot this summer." Harry said weakly. He could hardly tell her that this was the first summer he'd had access to his books that he had used his wand during the holidays.  
"Now, I'm going to take a shower, so if you don't mind." He said getting up.  
"Sure, mate." Ron said. "Are you in for a game of chess afterwards?"  
"Sounds great." Harry said. "Set up the board for me, I'll try to hurry."

Before getting into the shower, Harry wrote a brief letter he'd been thinking about all day.  
This year, school had started on a Friday, so this was the weekend he had his meeting with Malfoy. He still had to let the boy know where and when they would meet.  
After he'd composed the note, he called for Kreacher.  
"Please attach this to one of the Family owls at Grimmauld place." he said, pressing the Black Lord ring he carried invisible around the same chain as the locket, in hot wax and sealing the letter. "Tell it to deliver to Draconis Malfoy. Then go to the Three Broomsticks and reserve a private booth for tomorrow at 1 p.m."  
"Yes, Master." Kreacher said, popping away.

The next morning was a busy one. Luckily he woke up early again so he had enough time to arrange everything. "Dobby." he called out quietly. Just a second later the bubbly elf popped up right in front of him. "Lord Black, sir." the elf said happily, "You's called for Dobby, sir. Dobby is being so happy!"  
"How do you know who I am?" Harry asked surprised, "I didn't tell anyone."  
"Elves feels it." Dobby explained. "They knows the titles of the students and professors."  
"Does Dumbledore know? Or any of the teachers?"  
Dobby shook his head. "They does not know, Lord Black, sir." the elf said.  
Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "Could you not call me that while I look like the old Harry Potter, please, Dobby, could you just address me like before?"  
"Dobby will do that, Mr. Harry Potter sir." Dobby bobbed his head. "Anything else, sir?"  
"Could you ask the other elves to do the same? And not to tell anything about the Lord Black thing?"  
"Sure, Mr. Harry Potter, sir!" the different coloured bonnets on the elf's head almost fell off by the excessive nodding.  
"Now, I asked you to come here because I need a favour. But only if you don't get into trouble, okay?"  
"Dobby is doing everything for the good Harry Potter sir!"  
"I'm meeting Draco Malfoy today, because he is still part of the Black Family and I really want to give him a chance. Do you think he is going to follow Voldemort?"  
Dobby shrieked at the name, but then answered slowly. "Master Draco was a good boy. He did not like elveses like Dobby, but he was a good boy. Dobby thinks that he will listen to Lord Black, but also to Master Lucius."  
"I understand. But is it possible to convince him?"  
"Dobby does not know, Mr. Harry Potter sir." he said, drooping his ears.  
"Master Draco has already taken a drawing, sir."  
"A drawing?" Harry said confused, then he gasped, "You mean the Dark Mark? Has he taken it already?"  
"Dobby thinks not. It is not being the same, not feeling the same as Master Lucius' drawing."  
"The Initiation Mark then." Harry concluded. He'd witnessed many of those markings in visions and knew what it was supposed to do. Draco probably was terrified.  
"Do you know what his assignment is?" he asked Dobby.  
The elf shook his head. "Dobby is sorry, Mr. Harry Potter sir, but Dobby does not know."  
"No problem, Dobby. You were a great help!"  
Beaming, the elf popped out of Gryffindor tower.

"I can't believe that we still don't have anything on that Lord Black person." Shacklebolt exclaimed on the early morning Order meeting.  
"He will have to choose a side soon now, just wait." Dumbledore said calming.  
"You said that last week too, Albus, and the week before, and the week before." Minerva McGonagall stated in a irritated manner. "Why don't we just send him a letter to ask him?"  
"That would be rude, Minerva. We need to have patience. He has tried to keep himself out of the situation so far, but he is far too influencial to be able to stay neutral."  
"Albus is right." Remus said, his voice still tired from the last full moon. "The last few weeks he had to show that there was a new Lord Black and he couldn't really do anything yet, but I'm sure that's about to change. We just have to hope that he choses the right side when the time is right."

Harry had spent the morning in relative ease. The number of early risers in Gryffindor tower could be counted on one hand and most of them were younger students who wanted to write a letter to their parents, telling them about their first day.  
He had asked Dobby to bring some toast up to the common room and the elf had done so with a large smile on his face.  
It was ten o'clock before Ron and Hermione came down the stairs and Harry had finished his breakfast completely so when they asked him to go to the Great hall, he declined.  
"I'm sorry guys, I just ate up here."  
"Have you been up long, Harry?" Hermione said, all of a sudden worried, "You aren't having nightmares or visions or something, right?"  
"No, 'Mione, calm down. It's just a habit after staying with the Dursleys, the only reason I could sleep that long at the Burrow is because we stayed up really late."  
"Oh. Do you want to come down with us while we have breakfast? We could do something afterwards?" Ron said. "We don't have any homework yet anyway."  
"You should study ahead, Ron, I've told you a million times. You too, Harry."  
"I did this morning, Hermione, I promise. I just thought I could train a little before lunch and go flying afterwards. I've missed it this summer."

"That's great Harry! What do you mean, train? Is Dumbledore giving you lessons?"

"No, he isn't." The boy who lived replied grumpily, "which is why I'm training. I have to catch up somehow, right?"  
"Can we help?" Hermione asked excited.  
"Not really, I want to try those gollems from Fred and George. I would just like to be alone today, if you don't mind." he said, dropping his voice a little in sadness.

"Of course, mate." Ron said softly. "Just use the map to find us when you're done."  
With a grateful look, Harry got up and made his way to the Room of Requirement.

He loved the training puppets, he decided, they were a brilliant thing to train with. He tried firing as many spells in a row as he could and then dodged the ones that returned to him.  
He wanted to improve his agility and speed at casting at the same time.  
It was lunch time by the time he had enough.  
He was all sweaty and would love to take a shower. The Room provided him with one, to his joy and he noticed when he got out that Kreacher had laid out a new set of clothes, so he was ready to go to lunch.

"Yeah, it worked great!" he reported back to Hermione and Ron. "It's really helping me! Do you want one for this afternoon perhaps?"  
"That would be brilliant!" Ron exclaimed, "Oh, come on Hermione! It's only our first weekend back and technically we are learning something, right?" he added when he saw Hermione's look.  
"Alright then." she sighed.  
"Great!" Ron said, taking another chicken leg from the tray in front of them.

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw how a large black owl delivered a small piece of parchment to a blond boy at the Slytherin table. As soon as he put it down, it set aflame and was turned into ashes within a few seconds.

Although he was a little surprised when the parchment flamed up, Draco Malfoy knew he should have expected this. He had been instructed to meet Lord Black at the Three Broomsticks no later than 1 p.m.. He knew it would be difficult to sneak out of the castle, but even more complicated would be not to let his friends suspect anything, like the letter had instructed. He didn't want to cross the Lord by just telling them where he was going, so he slumped a little and said. "Guys, I don't feel too good."  
"Draco, darling! Are you ill? Do you want to go to the Hospital wing? Maybe you should ask a pepper up potion." Pansy ranted.  
"Just a head ache. I'll go lie down for a while, maybe it will pass."  
"Do you want me to come with you?" the girl asked concerned.  
"No, maybe I can get some sleep. That would help, I think." Draco acted.  
Then he got up and headed down to the Slytherin dormitories. Every Slytherin boy above the age of 16 had his own bedroom. At least, it was more like a sleeping cell, because it didn't have a lot of closet space, Draco added to his opinion. He just used a simulation spell to make it look like he was in bed, fast asleep and then exited the common room. He would just hide in the library until it was time to leave.

"I'm going for a fly over the forest." Harry said, getting up. "Don't expect me back too soon."  
"Just be careful, okay?" Hermione warned him.  
He smiled at her and went to fetch his broom.  
He had never said how long he would fly over the forest, he thought to himself, so after a few quick rounds, he crossed the wards and apparated to a small appartment in Hogsmeade that belonged to the Black Family. Kreacher had left an appropriate outfit for him there, so he could change and just exit the appartment like he had used it as an apparition spot, which, when he thought about it, he actually had. After putting on his Black ring and taking off the medallion, he went outside.

The streets of the little town were almost empty, it being the first saturday of the school year and not a Hogsmeade weekend. "Good afternoon, Madam Rosmerta." he said with a flourishing bow, using the voice Sirius had patented 'the Lady's voice' and kissing the woman's hand, "I made reservations?"  
"Lord Black. How nice to meet you." she said. "Your booth is right over here." she said, showing him the way.

Harry waited in patience. He knew Malfoy wouldn't be late so he tried to practice what he wanted to say in his head. Somehow he had to win the boy's confidence before he could do anything else.  
Then, at 12:55 sharp, the door opened and Draco Malfoy strode in. Madam Rosmerta pointed him to his booth.  
"Lord Black." the Malfoy Heir said, bowing low, "A pleasure to meet you."  
"Draco." greeted Harry, "Please sit down."  
He noticed the serpent bracelet on the blonde's wrist. "I hope you liked my little present?"  
He asked, trying to break the ice.  
"I did, sir. It's beautiful." the boy said sincerely.  
"Why don't we get to business then. Like I said, I don't want to push you into giving me a vow. Before you make your decision I would like to explain what I expect."

Draco nodded hesitantly in understanding.  
"Your mother replied almost immediately that she won't make any vows and I respect her decision. I will not harm you in any way, no matter what you choose, do you understand?"  
"I do sir, thank you." relief was obvious in the slytherin's voice. He had been fearing for his mother, Harry suspected.  
"Now, I would like to establish two simple rules for this conversation and any conversation in the future. Rule one: be honest. If you can't or don't want to tell me something, just say so. I will, in exchange, always be honest with you." When Draco accepted, he continued, " Rule number two: we are Family. You can speak to me about anything and I will never punish you for speaking your mind. Questions so far?"  
"No, sir." a timid voice answered him.  
"I've cast privacy charms around this booth, Draco. Nobody can hear us, you can speak up.  
Now, first question, are you a follower of the man who calls himself Voldemort?"  
Draco flinched at the name and then paled. Harry could see him thinking about what would be the right answer. He opened his mouth to say something, but Harry interrupted him before he could speak. "The truth, please, Draco."  
The Malfoy Heir shut his mouth abruptly, then he nodded slowly.  
"Does that mean that you are a Death Eater or just a supporter?" the Black Lord asked, carefully keeping his voice calm and friendly.  
"Something in between, I guess."  
"I see. So you've taken the Initiation Mark?"  
Draco froze at this question.  
"It's okay. Just admitting that you have a Mark won't make it bite you, I promise."  
Though he seemed surprised about how much Harry knew, he still nodded.  
"What's your assignment?"  
"I can't tell you." Draco immediately answered.  
"Okay. That's fine. I understand" Harry said, trying to to show disappointment, "Why do you follow him?"  
"I don't understand."  
"Why do you follow Voldemort? Do you agree with his ideas or are you being forced?"  
"Nobody's forcing me!" Draco exclaimed, then he remembered who he was talking to an regained his timid posture, "It just seems like the right thing to do."  
"You do know what he wants to accomplish, right?" he pushed.  
"Of course I do, he wants to eliminate dirty blood!"  
"That's not his only goal. Did you know he is a half blood himself? Do you know why he wants to eliminate them?"  
"You're lying!" Draco said, stunned, he's not a half blood!"  
"Didn't I promise that I wouldn't lie? Still don't believe me? Fine then. I Lord Canopus Orion Black do hereby solemnly swear that I will not purposely lie to Draconis Lucius Malfoy during this conversation. Happy now?"  
The blonde swallowed. An oath like that was not to be taken lightly. "How do you know?"  
"It's common knowledge for anyone who tries to find out." Harry said. "His old name was Tom Riddle, you try to find it for yourself."  
He could see that the boy was going to do just that.  
"So do you know what his goal is?"  
"Apparently I don't!" Draco mumbled grumpily and though he normally shouldn't speak to him like that, Harry let it slide.  
"He wants to keep all that are not purebloods from entering the Wizarding World and forbid those who have Pure blood to marry those who do not. While that might not sound very bad, it actually is. We would have died out ages ago if it weren't for muggleborns and half bloods. I do agree that they should not come in this world at age 11 and start making demands. They should be informed much, much earlier. Someone should check on them to make sure that they are all right. There should be at least a year of Wizarding Culture classes before they came to Hogwarts. They are raised in a completely different world so it is logical that they don't agree with certain things. Wouldn't it be smarter to explain to them why things are the way they are? There is no one to explain those things to them.  
Do you understand what I am trying to say?"  
"I think so.. But still! Look at those Mudbloods like Granger! She knows the entire library by hard and she is still too stupid to understand why there are traditions!"  
"While that might be true, she still thinks that the system would function better when everything would be different. She does not know about those few times that they did try to listen to the muggleborns and we almost became extinct.  
She wants to help."  
"Maybe then." Draco hesitated.  
"I want you to try something for me." Harry said. "Act neutral for just a week and see what happens. Don't insult the muggleborns and half bloods, try to talk to some of them and help one of the younger ones with his homework. You'll understand after that."  
"Do I have to? I already know that it won't change a thing!"  
"Just try, you can tell your friends that the annoying Lord Black put you up to it." he grinned.  
"Fine." the Malfoy Heir harrumphed.  
"Now about that Mark..." Harry said and Draco paled.  
"I understand if you agree with Voldemort, a lot of people do, but I can't have you in the family if you are one of his followers. Blacks aren't servants or slaves. They don't bow for anyone. If you want to support him in some anonymous way, that's your choice, but I won't let you be branded like some piece of cattle."  
His charge looked extremely nervous now. "But what about.. I can't just.. I want to follow!"  
All of a sudden Harry understood what he could do to win the boy's trust.  
"I'm going to blindfold you and stop you from hearing what I'm about to do." Harry started. Draco panicked, he wanted to run away, but simply bumped off the barrier Harry had raised.  
"Let me out!" He yelled. "You said you wouldn't hurt me!" The boy raised his wand in defense.  
"I won't." Lord Black said in a calming voice, disarming Draco in a fluent movement. "Trust me. I just want to help you." Then he cast a full body bind on the boy to keep him from moving. After that, he used the obscuro en murmelio spells. The boy was completely helpless now and as much as Harry hated to scare him, it would help him in the long run.

He looked around the Three Broomsticks, but nobody had noticed anything. Like he had hoped, the barrier had hid them from sight.  
He bared Draco's left arm and looked at the serpent that was ready to strike.  
_"Sssstop it."_ he commanded in parseltongue.  
_"Yesss, __sspeaker__." t_he snake answered,_ "But he wasss doubting! I was following the other __my Lord'sss__ ordersss!"_  
_"Tell me, what is your name."_  
_"I do not have one, sssspeaker. __I wasss not created assss a pet."  
"I realize that. But I think every creature hass the right to have a name."_ the Black Lord said, _"The other ssspeaker wass unfair to you by denying you that right. I will give you one, if you __want?__"  
_The snake seemed to think about it. _"Alright then. You can name me."  
_Harry thought about it for a moment and then said: _"I will name you Sssentar."  
"It iss a strong name. I like it. Now why, young ssspeaker, wouldn't you let me strike the boy for disobeyance?"  
__"You were about to harm an innocent child because he isss still unsure of the path he should follow." Harry explained.  
"__But Younglings should always have the time to make their choices! Every snake knows that."  
"The other sspeaker does not care. He wants to make the decision for him."  
"__You are right, my Lord wass unfair! I did not like him anyway. He sssmelled like rotting leaves in autumn."  
"That isss the sssmell of Darknesss. What, if you don't mind me asking, do I smell like?"_ Harry asked, curious about the answer.  
The snake thought about it, flikking it's tongue as if to taste the air, a strange movement for a tattoo.  
_"You smell like sunshine and vanilla, my Lord. It is a very powerful smell. More powerfull than the lying ssspeaker's. The boy smells like forests and rain. He has potential, but iss not that sstrong."  
"I am sstronger than Voldemort?"_ Harry asked. _"How?"  
"That I cannot anssswer, my Lord."  
_At that moment, Draco made a little sound of fear, reminding Harry that the boy was still waiting for him to end the spells.  
_"Would you like to come off the boy's arm?" _he asked. _"You could stay with me."  
"I would like that, my Lord." _Sentar said.

Harry closed his eyes, searched for his magic and let a small amount float into the tattoo. He could feel the evilness lurking about. He quickly seperated the evil magic from Draco's own forest green magical core and pushed it out of the boy's body. Then he caught the snake before it could disappear into nothing and pulled it towards him. He had meant to simply transfer the tattoo, but apparently he had used too much magic, because Sentar became solid.  
It was a beautiful snake, still small, about 2 feet long. It's scales were patterned green and black and when the animal looked up at him, two brilliant jade eyes looked into his emerald ones.  
_"Welcome Sssentar, may the moon always light your paths."_ Harry said, the words coming to him as if he had used him all his life. He felt how a small tendrill of the Snake's being reached out to his own magic. _"Thank you, Master. You are even stronger than I could taste while I sat on the boy's arm."  
"What just happened?"  
"We are now bonded, Master. I will always be yours."  
"That's great." _Harry said with a small smile. _"We'll talk about this later. I have to explain to the boy." _  
The snake nodded its head and slithered around Harry's shoulders.  
"Draco?" Harry said, lifting all the charms he had cast on the boy. "I'm sorry that I had to do that."

"You promised!" The boy yelled.  
"I did not harm you." he kept his voice calm. "Look at your arm."  
The Mark was gone.

"How? How did you...?" Draco had to admit that he was happy the thing was gone. Then he panicked. "What if the Dark Lord finds out? Of course he will find out! He wants to see the Marks at every meeting!"  
"He won't notice that it's gone." Harry reassured him. "Don't worry. You are safe. Do you still want to follow him?"  
"I don't know." Draco hesitated.  
"I would protect you from him if that's what you are thinking about."  
"How do I know I can trust you?"  
"I promised not to lie to you and I'm not. You can trust me, I promise. I took the snake off your arm, but I wouldn't let you see nor hear, so you would be able to say that you didn't see me take it off. That you don't know how it happened. They could feed you veritaserum and you would still be able to keep them in the dark. We are Family, Draco. Why don't you think about what you want to do and let me know. The Black owls will find you when you want to write me. No matter what you decide, let me know."  
"I will." Draco promised solemnly. "It's just. I don't want to become one of those perfect little angels, trotting behind Dumbledore!"  
"Who said anything about Dumbledore?" Harry said surprised.  
"Well, there is the Dark Lord on one side and Dumbledore on the other. I don't know what to choose between those two. Dumbledore wants to make every position open to muggleborns, that will ruin our world! They don't know what they are doing, but they think they are perfect!"  
And finally Harry understood why all those Slytherin boys chose the Dark side.  
"I suppose it is time for a new side then." he said, the trademark mischievous smile of the Marauders appearing on his face.

**The end of another chapter. I hope you liked it. I am sooo sorry that it took me so long to update. But I couldn't stop the chapter half way and it is twice as long as the previous ones.**

**Please review. It only takes a moment for you, but it makes my day! I am so happy that I have this many followers! I never would have thought you would like it.**

**Sincerely  
Dolceconbrio**


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for the long wait again, I had an exam I had to study for and I didn't have any time to write.**

Enjoy the chapter and please don't forget to review.

**Chapter 7. Questioned honor**

With a smile of success on his face Harry climbed back into the Gryffindor common room. His meeting with Draco had gone quite well if he said so himself. He was happy that he had gotten Draco's attention and maybe a first spark of trust, but knew that he wasn't there yet. There was definitely hope though, so he couldn't be more satisfied.

"You had a nice fly, mate?" Ron asked as soon as he sat down in his normal comfortable chair.  
"Brilliant." Harry replied. "How was your afternoon?"  
"We worked with the Dueling Dummies." Hermione answered. "You are right, Harry. They are a huge help." Then she seemed to be thinking about something before she continued carefully, "Harry, have you decided on what you are going to do with the DA yet?" she bit her lip nervously.  
"I have been thinking about it." he admitted.  
"And?" Ron pushed curiously.  
"I really don't know, guys. I have a lot going on right now. I'm pretty sure that Dumbledore will make me take Occlumency again and I have all these Heir duties, not to mention normal classes..." he stopped talking when he saw the disappointed faces of his friends.  
"All right." he said, "Fine, I'll try. But when I see that I can't handle it, I will have to stop. Do you understand?"  
"Brilliant!" Ron exclaimed. "Thank you so much, mate!"  
"That's really nice of you Harry. We'll help you out of course. Just tell us what you want us to do." his bushy haired friend added.

"Well, I was thinking about getting Dumbledore's permission at first, but I've decided against it. He would probably want to monitor the sessions and I want to teach you some things that are... unconventional at least. We'll keep the contract, I love that idea, maybe we can extend it so that Voldemort can't find out what we are doing. I'm sure you could manage if you tried, right Hermione?"  
Hermione's face lit up at the praise and she nodded.  
"Great! I think we should become a little more practical than we have until now as well. Just dueling techniques won't be enough." he continued.  
"What do you mean?" Ron asked," Isn't that the most important part?"  
"Maybe, Ron. But I want to do the entire Death Eater attack package. I want to be ready when they come bursting in. Voldemort is getting stronger and we all know that he wants Hogwarts. As soon as he feels confident enough, he will attack."  
His friends looked extremely worried all of a sudden. Apparently they hadn't thought about it as much as he had.  
"We can start by a quick refresher of last year and then go on from there."

"But there will be new students that will want to join too and we can't just start over. That would be boring for the others." Ginny said. Harry hadn't noticed her joining in. Quickly he cast privacy wards around the four of them so that the other Gryffindors wouldn't be able to listen in.  
"We will probably have to split up the groups into beginners and advanced then." Harry said, inwardly groaning at the thought of even more work.  
"Why don't we let the advanced group teach them?" Ginny suggested, apparently understanding his concerns. "You could explain the theory and then let the rest of us handle the practicals. Then you could focus on the advanced group with your new exercises."  
"That could work." Harry said, smiling at the idea, "Maybe we can even let the beginners into parts of the advanced training too. I wanted to do physical exercises as well. They wouldn't be behind on those."

They spent the rest of the weekend trying to get the details ready and by the time it was Monday, Harry had planned all the lessons of the beginners' class. They should be able to catch up completely by Christmas.  
He would have preferred to draw up the lesson plan for the advanced group after that, but unfortunately he had classes to go to. And he was not really looking forward to the double DADA with Slytherlins and Snape first thing Monday morning.

* * *

"Silence." Snape commanded as he walked into the classroom. "I recall you haven't had a single good teacher in Defense so far. I will try to get you to the level you should be right now, although I know that it will be a waste of time for some of you." he said, looking pointedly at Neville, who blanched immediately.  
"You, Weasley, what do you do when someone casts a curse at you?"  
"Cast a protego, sir." Ron answered.  
"Wrong! While you could cast a shielding charm, it is always better to evade the spell all together. If that isn't possible, you could indeed use your wand to defend yourself.  
Potter, what would you cast when I sent a curse at you?"  
"That would depend on the curse, sir." Harry said softly.  
"Are you being cheeky to me, Potter? 5 points from-"  
"No, sir." Harry interrupted, still in the quiet, controlled tone he had used before, "I just mean that if it is a low powered curse, you would use Protego. When you are being attacked at home and the attackers were outside, you should probably use Protego Totalum or Protego Maxima.  
If I were attacked with a Dark curse, I would cast Protego Horribilis. If I didn't know the curse at all, I would levitate an object into the beam of the spell and dive out of the way.  
With Unforgivable curses, it would probably be best..."  
"Shut up, Potter. 5 points from Gryffindor for interrupting and another 5 for showing of."  
He looked at Harry and waited, obviously wanting him to protest. The boy remained silent, though some of the other Gryffindors were mumbling angrily.

"If you think you know so well, why don't you come up here and show me."  
Hermione looked at him with a nervous look, but he smiled in comfort before getting up.  
"I will cast a stupefy at you and then gradually move on to more powerful curses. You are to defend yourself in any way you want, but you cannot attack me. Understood?"  
Harry nodded and raised his wand.

"Stupefy." Snape casted, without any more warning.  
Harry side stepped it.  
"Stupefy. Stupefy. Stupefy." his teacher cast, now not giving him a break anymore.  
The Potter Heir managed to dive out of the way of the first two, but had to cast a Protego midroll to evade the third.  
"Oculatero." was the next curse, it would temporarily blind him if it hit its target. The casting speed kept increasing with every spell.  
It didn't take long before Harry was rolling, diving and jumping out of the way while casting Protegos.  
"Frango!" Snape yelled. Harry was shocked. That was a bone breaking curse. He could hold his professor off for another 5 minutes before he crashed into a tripping jinx and was hit with two Frango curses afterwards. He felt the bones break and had to bite his lip not to cry out.

"Well well, apparently not an expert after all, huh Potter."  
He really had to reign in his temper now. Snape was a professional dueler and he had forbidden Harry to take the offensive side. How long was he supposed to last?  
"If you say so, sir." he said, gritting his teeth, "Can I go to the Hospital wing now?"  
"Why? Got a bruise falling down? Be a man, Potter. Or is that too much to ask?" The Slytherins snickered in glee.  
"You broke my wrist and my leg!" He exclaimed, still sitting on the floor.  
"Don't be ridiculous, Potter. You wouldn't be talking to me if I had."  
"I assure you sir, that they are broken. Now would you please help me up?"  
He had to use every single bit of will power not to yell at the greasy git.  
"Get up yourself, Potter. Stop lying."

That was it. The greasy git had crossed the line and he probably knew it.

He used his good hand to get himself up from the ground, then carefully picked up his wand. He couldn't cast well with his left hand, but he didn't want to be defenseless.

"Are you questioning my honor, sir?" he asked, his voice dropping to a freezing temperature. He could feel the tension in the classroom go up as the purebloods understood where this was going.  
"There is no way that a pampered, spoiled brat like you wouldn't be screaming if you had broken a bone, Potter, let alone stand." the bat sneered.  
"I was not spoiled, nor pampered, professor. My relatives do not like me at all, they never have."  
"You are a filthy, little liar, Potter! Stop asking for attention and sit back down."  
A blinding light appeared around Harry's body, accepting the challenge.  
"You do not recognize my honor, sir. What would change that?" he asked.  
Snape smiled cruelly before answering. "Prove it. Prove that your family doesn't think of you as a little prince and I will 'recognize your honor'." It was obvious that he thought such a thing could not be proved.

"Accepted, sir." He replied in an even tone of voice.  
He really didn't want to, he really didn't, but he knew he had no other choice. It was the only way.  
Slowly he turned to face the class and, avoiding to use his injured hand, he started to unbutton his robe.

* * *

"What the hell is he doing?" Blaise hissed to Draco.  
"How should I know?" Draco said annoyed.  
Potter was bloody stripping in front of an entire classroom. He knew his Godfather was taking it very far this time. He loved it when Potter got humiliated, but this time it were his Family values. If Snape was wrong...  
He looked at Granger. She had her hands pressed to her mouth as if she already knew what was coming. Weasley was trying to comfort her.

Potter stood in front of the class, not wearing anything on his upper body. He could hear girls around him giggle as they watched him eagerly. The Potter Heir was extremely skinny, he noticed, but he had a muscular body apart from that. There were some scars, but nothing note worthy for someone who had faced the Dark Lord this many times.  
He moved his attention to his Godfather's face and his mouth almost fell open.  
Snape had paled to a point that he had thought impossible, his eyes were opened wide and he was apparently trying really hard to keep his face under control.

"Do you accept this proof?" Potter asked in a level tone.  
"I do." Snape rasped with difficulty.  
My eyebrows rose in shock. It couldn't be. Not perfect Potter?  
"Would this crowd be witness of the proving of my honor?"  
"Aye." the Purebloods answered curiously, waiting for Potter to turn around.  
They all gasped in unision. Potter's back was a battle field of scars, moving in every possible direction. There were thin lines, large bands and irregular burn patterns. It was obvious that it had been done deliberately.  
Potter abused? The class took a moment to recover and then started whispering in a frenzy.  
"Do you accept this proof?"  
"Aye." was the unanimous answer, altough a little hesitantly.  
A swirl of magic sealed their acceptance.

Now that the ritual had been completed, Potter waved his wand clumsily with his left hand. His clothes reappeared on his body. "I will go to the Hospital Wing now." he announced.  
Then he conjured a walking stick and stumbled out of the room, biting his lip in agony.

Granger and Weasley got up as well, not bothering to say why and went after him, glaring at Snape in disgust.  
"Class dismissed." his Godfather announced, striding out of the class room as soon as he had regained his calm.

"Harry! Harry, wait up!" Hermione yelled. It didn't take long for them to catch up.  
"Hermione, could you cast Ferula on my leg?" He asked. "My wrist is broken too and I can't manage the wand movement with my left hand.  
"Of course." she said, doing so immediately.  
"Thanks." he sighed in relief as the splint appeared, lessening the pain.  
"Do you want me to carry you, mate?" Ron asked.  
"I could levitate you, if you want?" Hermione suggested.

"We're almost there anyway." Harry shrugged. "I'll make it."

"Mr. Potter? Already?" Madam Pomfrey asked when they arrived in the Hospital Wing.  
"Not my fault this time." Harry muttered.  
"What seems to be the problem?"  
"Broken leg and wrist." he announced, sitting down with a groan.

"Dear Merlin! What did you do?" the mediwitch exclaimed when she saw the state his leg was in.  
"Defense. Snape." he murmered, trying not to cry out as she dissolved Hermione's spell.  
"What?" she cried out, "Don't try to blame professor Snape for this Mr. Potter."

"He's telling the truth." Hermione said, she had tears in her eyes but now she started to sound angry. "He made Harry demonstrate Protegos while he was casting Frango."  
"That man!" the witch muttered. "Well Mr. Potter. I managed to set the bones in your wrist without any problems, but unfortunately you strained your leg by standing on it while it was broken, so you'll have to stay here until tonight."  
"Great. Just great." he mumbled sarcastically.

"Harry, I understand why you showed your back to Snape, but why did you show it to the class as well? By tonight it will be all over the school!" Ron asked.  
Harry grinned and shook his head. "No it won't."

* * *

"Severus! To what do I owe the honor? Do you want some tea? Maybe a lemon drop?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes twinkling merrily.  
"I'm here to discuss a grave matter, Headmaster. Please don't bother me with candy." Severus Snape answered, sounding really tired.  
"My my, what happened?" the old Headmaster asked, concern now evident in his voice.  
"It's about Potter. I challenged his honor." Snape replied, extremely agitated.  
"Why would you do that, my dear boy?"  
Snape glared at him.  
"Oh right. You don't like the boy. Please continue." Dumbledore instructed.  
The professor opened his mouth to tell what had happened, but choked and had to remain silent.  
"It seems that you cannot tell me, am I right?"  
"Apparently so." was the grumpy answer. "But it is imperative that I tell you."  
"What was the outcome of the duel?"  
"He won. His honor is still intact." Snape answered immediately. Then he looked surprised. "I didn't want to say that." he exclaimed. "Potter used some kind of secrecy spell on me."  
"As is his right, as long as there were witnesses." Dumbledore answered gravely.  
"Try legilimency!" Snape ushered.  
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Is it truly that important?"  
"Yes." was the short reply.  
"Fine then." The Headmaster stared into Snape's eyes, the memory came to him rather easily, but at the crucial moment it turned black, only showing him the acceptance of the proof.  
"That was useless." Snape sighed. "Potter did his homework for once. You said you only told him about his inheritance last week, Headmaster. It seemed that he knew what to do perfectly."  
"Molly told me that he studied the entire time. That could explain it." Dumbledore suggested.  
"You know just as well as I do that it is impossible to study everything in one week, even if he didn't sleep at all. It is the exact reason why you didn't tell him sooner. You want him to fail so you can help him and be his hero again." Snape sneered.

"I just want to help the boy. He grew up so fast, I did not notice that he was sixteen already."  
The new defense teacher snorted. "Right. Well, I suggest you ask the brat what happened. He should be able to reveal his own secret."  
"I guess you're right, Severus."

"Professor Dumbledore wants to see you, Mr. Potter. Is it okay if he comes down to talk to you?" Madame Pomfrey asked, a little annoyed that they wouldn't leave her patient alone.  
"I suppose so." Harry nodded reluctantly, he knew where this was going.  
"Harry, my dear boy! What happened?"  
"Professor Snape showed us the defense against the Frango curse, sir." Harry answered airily.  
"Ah, I assume something went wrong when the students practiced it?" Dumbledore presumed.  
"Not really, Professor. He demonstrated it on me and I couldn't keep up with my shields."  
The headmaster's face fell. There was a moment of silence before the old man changed the subject.  
"Now, I hear there was a little incident about honor in class?"  
"That's true, sir." he couldn't read the boy's expression.  
Dumbledore conjured a fluffy chair and sat down next to Harry's bed. "Care to tell me what it was about?" he asked grandfatherly.  
"That is none of your concern, sir. Thank you for asking." he replied politely.  
"I would really appreciate it if you would tell me." Dumbledore insisted, "Professor Snape thought it very important."  
"I already know that it is not important to you, Headmaster." Harry said bitterly.  
Dumbledore tried use legilimency to find out what the boy was hiding, getting worried about his stubborn behaviour, but he got thrown out almost immediately.  
"Kindly stay out of my head, Headmaster. I do not like it when other people mess around with it." Harry said, keeping his anger out of his voice.  
"Who taught you Occlumency, Harry? I know that you didn't start the lessons with Severus yet."  
Harry remained silent.  
Dumbledore was thinking at full speed. It couldn't be that the boy had been in contact with their mysterious new Lord, could it? That would explain everything.  
"Harry, was it Lord Black?"  
A fury arose in the normally kind green eyes, but the boy nodded. "He contacted me on my birthday and had contacts of the Family take care of some things for me. He informed me of my heritage as well. Something you neglected to do, if I may add." The Potter Heir said angrily.  
"Why would he do that? And how did he teach you, my boy? You were supposed to stay within the wards."  
"I do not want to tell you, sir. And I am part of the Black Family through Sirius." he wasn't lying, Harry thought to himself, without Sirius he never would have been a Black, "He wanted to take care of me and as I do not like the Dursleys I accepted.  
I would prefer to talk about your Defense professor who thought it wise to doubt my honor. You are aware that he owes me a favour now, correct?"  
Dumbledore sighed. This was not going according to plan. He just wanted to help the boy, not get even more burdens on his young shoulders. He shouldn't have to worry about these things now.  
"I am aware." he sighed.  
"Great. Could you tell him for me? I don't fancy having my leg broken again." Harry said, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "I don't think he is even aware what he got himself into."

"I will, Harry. But please, what do you know about this Lord Black? Is he evil? How do you know you can trust him? The Order can't find any information about him. He could be dangerous."  
"He does not follow Voldemort." Harry cut him off. "Now I would like to catch some sleep. I broke my leg today and your professor made me waltz around on it because he didn't believe me."  
"Of course." the old man acknowledged, regret in his voice. "I really am sorry, child. You should know that."  
"Of course, Headmaster." the boy nodded. "I understand." A small forgiving smile appeared on his face. "You want to help Snape, but you should realise that he is making it very hard for me to be civil to him the way he behaves. He is the child in that classroom, not me." Then Harry turned around in his familiar hospital bed and let his eyes fall shut.

**That's chapter 7 already! Please review!  
What do you think about the DA? Did I make the right choice? I still left some room to write Harry out of it should it get too complicated to keep up, although I don't plan on doing that.  
What will Harry make Snape do? Will he keep the favour until he needs it, or will he use it immediately?  
What will Dumbledore do about Lord Black?**

**Next chapter: Letters to the Ministery and Draco's reaction to neutrality.**

**Sincerely  
Dolceconbrio**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8. Doubts and decisions**

"I told you a million times already! Lord Black wants me to act neutral." Draco said rolling his eyes.  
"Yes, and I get that." Theodore Nott answered, "But that still doesn't mean that you have to get all chummy with filthy mudbloods."  
"He considers it part of being neutral." the Malfoy Heir replied haughtily, "And it was a bloody first year for Merlin's sake. I just pointed him the library."  
"Come on, Draco. Last week you would have cursed him for just addressing you, don't pretend that it's nothing."  
Nott was getting on his nerves. It wasn't a big deal, why couldn't he see that? In the beginning it had been difficult to play nice, but he had convinced himself that it was a challenge to pull it off and it was almost natural now. He had had difficulties with finding his way around the castle too when he had first come to Hogwarts, so when the lost Hufflepuff had asked him for directions, he had replied without a second thought.  
It appeared that the only difficult part about being neutral was the reactions of his not-so-neutral friends.

He almost didn't want to admit it, but he had actually enjoyed being able to help the kid. What was wrong with him? He was a Malfoy! Malfoy's didn't do charity except when it made them look better. Was he really willing to destroy his entire reputation for this Lord Black?  
The younger Slytherins preferred him this way, he had noticed. One of them had actually asked him for help with his homework. This would seem logical, he was a prefect after all, but until now he had just barked at the firsties to leave him alone and they wouldn't try again.

He had also been paying attention to Gryffindor and the way they interacted. Well, yes they didn't have any manners and were incredibly vulgar, but it looked like everyone was having fun. There didn't seem to be a hierarchy at all, everyone talked to everyone. It would be very relaxing if he wouldn't have to be on his guard all the time in Slytherin, taking care to act the part of Slytherin prince and to stop everyone from taking over.

"Draco? Draco? Draco!" Vince was trying to get his attention. "Lunch is over, boss. We should get to Transfiguration."  
"Right. Let's go." he replied, trying to clear his head. Everyone parted in fear to let him pass. His father was very influencial and everyone knew it.  
Did he really want to give this up? He had been pondering over what Lord Black had said. He had of course checked this Tom Riddle person and to his astonishment the man had been right.  
He had wanted more information after that and an owl had come to him as soon as he had finished his letter, just like Black had promised. Now there was a glass vial with a memory waiting for him in the secure lock box in his trunk. After curfew he would have to sneak into the Room of Requirement to find a pensieve so he could watch them. Lord Black had stressed the importance of not letting anyone else see them. He was supposed to leave the memory in the Room of Requirement after watching it. Lord Black would take it from there.

Time passed by slowly. The afternoon felt like days and the evening like months, but finally everyone had gone to bed.  
After a few hours, when he was sure everyone was fast asleep, he crept out of bed and snuck out of Slytherin House, carefully avoiding the wards that would alarm his Godfather that someone was breaking curfew. He had charmed the lock box to be invisible, just in case he got caught and cast a disillusionment charm on himself. If someone was really paying attention, they would notice a shape moving around, but it was enough to fool the portraits. They didn't pay attention at night anyway.

It took him quite some time to make it to the seventh floor, coming from the dungeons and he had been forced to use alternative staircases since he couldn't risk getting caught and the prefects that were on duty tonight would definitely patrol there.  
Finally he arrived at the stone wall that guarded the entrance to the Room of Requirement. He paced back and forth three times, thinking 'I need a pensieve to watch Lord Black's memories.' and locked the door behind him as soon as it granted him access.

The Room hadn't gone through too much trouble. It was completely empty appart from a small table in the middle. A pensieve sat on top.  
Draco nicked his finger and dribbled a small amount of blood on the lock of the box that held the memory, whispering his password. While these boxes weren't particularly legal, it was one of the safest ways to guard small items. He poured the vial in the pensieve and watched the memory swirl around, seemingly happy to have more space.  
Hesitantly Draco reached down with his hand. 'Oh, it can't hurt, right?' he thought, before he touched the milky substance.

Immediately he felt himself being pulled in. Colours surrounded him and made him lose his orientation until he finally found himself sitting on the floor of an old manor. He recognized the place at once. It was the Dark Lord's lair.  
It was a lot busier than when he had been there, though. Besides the two half circles, there was also a small group of young men, their faces hidden by hoods. They were looking around nervously and Draco felt the tension in the room. Something was about to happen.  
The Dark Lord entered the throne room, his black robes billowing behind him in a manner, similar to his Godfather's. He felt himself wondering if that was where Severus had picked it up.

"My loyal followers. Tonight we will see our group expanded." the Dark Lord announced, a soft lisp entering his voice. "Every single one of these men has passed his initiation, tonight they will be submitted to their final test before joining." He turned himself to one of the men in the inner circle. "Lucius, if you will?"  
"Of course, my Lord." his father answered. Draco watched curiously. No one besides a Death Eater had ever seen an initiation and lived to tell the tale. How had Lord Black obtained this memory? Had he been a Death Eater himself?

He saw how his father walked to the other side of the room, opening a cage Draco hadn't noticed before. Inside were people, he recognized them as muggles because of the clothes they were wearing. They were crying or screaming in fear, but no sound came from the mouthes, probably silenced already. His father made five of the muggles come out and directed them back to the middle of the room, where he stuck their feet to the floor so they couldn't run. One of the muggles was brave enough to try and hit his father as soon as he came close enough.  
Draco gasped as his father laughed cruelly and used a Crucio on the man.  
"Thank you, Lucius. Now who is first?"

Then every single one of the new recruits killed one of the muggles, after torturing them without mercy. Mothers were forced to watch their children die and the other way around until the room was a mess of blood and dead bodies.  
Draco could barely keep himself from throwing up, but none of the men in the memory seemed to have a problem with the killing. Just as he thought it couldn't get worse, he recognized Marcus Flint, the old Quidditch captains of Slytherin as one of the new recruits. This couldn't have been long ago. He looked about the right age.

He watched as the Dark Lord branded the Dark Mark into the left arm of each man, who were screaming as their skin was burned. Then the memory ended and he landed back into the Room of Requirement.  
Maybe the Lord Black's offer wasn't that bad...

* * *

"So, Harry, I forgot to ask! What are you going to make Snape do?" Neville asked, a huge grin on his face.  
"What are you talking about, Neville?" Hermione asked, confused.  
"He challenged Harry's family honor and lost. He owes him a debt now. Didn't you realise?"  
"That's just beautiful!" Ron exclaimed, a dreamy look appearing on his face. "You could make him do something humiliating! He'll regret that he always picks on you!"  
"Ron! He is still his teacher! Harry wouldn't ask for anything! Right, Harry?" Hermione interrupted.  
"Ehrm." Harry hesitated.  
"You have got to be kidding me!" she huffed.  
"I haven't planned anything yet." he admitted. "I don't know whether I'll need it some day, for potions or to get out of Voldemort's clutches or something."  
"That's actually a good idea." Neville admitted, looking a little disappointed, then his face lit up again, "And he would have it hanging over his head for all this time. Brilliant!"  
"I suppose I can live with that." Hermione said smiling.

"I did get another idea, though." Harry said. "Snape isn't the only teacher to question me about telling the truth."  
"What do you mean?" Ron asked.  
"Umbridge of course!" Hermione looked as if Christmas had come early. "What can you do to her, Harry? I thought you weren't an Heir back then. Does it still work?"  
"It's not completely the same." he admitted, "I was able to lie after all, but I wouldn't have lied about something that important. It's in my blood. She should have known that. And besides, a blood quill is illegal, so I can always get her for that."  
"Harry, Umbridge isn't the only one who accused you of lying." Neville gasped.  
Harry smirked. He had been wondering who would catch on first.  
"You're going to get the Daily Prophet in trouble. Even Fudge!"  
"If I play it the right way, yes. I wanted to write the letters today actually. Would you like to help me?"  
"Of course we would!" they exclaimed.

It took them the rest of the night, but eventually they finished four different letters. Ginny had come by to ask if she could help, but Harry had refused with a smile, telling her that it was very kind, but not necessary. It was her OWL year, she looked exhausted already and he didn't want her to find something else to worry about.  
"Who are you sending them to, Harry?" Hermione asked, "The Ministery?"  
"Eventually, yes. But first I'm going to let someone proofread them."  
"Who? You don't know anyone outside Hogwarts besides the Weasleys."  
Harry remained silent for a while, trying to decide if he wanted to tell them already. After a few moments, he took his decision. "Guys, I trust you, you know that, right?"  
They looked at him with a worried look and nodded.  
"I want to tell you something, but I can't tell everything. So I need you to trust me, okay?"  
"Sure, mate." Ron smiled. "What's up?"  
"I knew that I was an Heir before Dumbledore's letter." he stated.  
Neville nodded. He didn't seem surprised at all, unlike his other friends. "What, how?"  
"I got a letter from Lord Black. The Black family has been helping me with my duties."  
"That mysterious guy?" Ron asked, "You mean the one the Order can't find anything about? And you have met the man?"  
"Well, Sirius was his Godfather, right? Does that make you family?" Hermione wondered.  
Harry looked at Neville, who answered for him. "It could, Harry's grandmother was a Black. If Lord Black wanted to, he could help Harry."  
"That's right." the Potter Heir smiled. "But there is more."  
He made complex wand movements, setting up strong privacy wards and notice-me-nots. Even Dumbledore wouldn't be able to break through these.  
Neville's eyes widened in understanding, his mouth fell open. "You didn't!"  
Harry smirked and shrugged. "Maybe? What are you thinking?"  
Neville fainted.

"What's up with him?" Ron asked suspicously.  
Hermione had figured it out as well, so it seemed. "Harry James Potter! Why didn't you tell us?"  
"Tell us what? Can someone tell me what the bloody hell is going on?"  
"Let me show you." Harry suggested.

He got up from his favourite seat by the fire and took off his locket. Immediately he got the appearance of Lord Black.  
Ron looked as if someone had cast a stupefy on him.  
"Good evening. Let me introduce myself. Lord Canopus Orion Black, a pleasure to meet you." he said, kissing Hermione's hand while making an elegant bow.  
"What happened to your body?" Hermione squeaked as soon as she got over the first shock.  
"The Family spirits restored it to the way it would have been without the Dursleys and added a little 'Black flair' to it." Harry said in his smooth voice.  
"You look amazing, mate!" Ron said. "How did you get the title? I'm guessing Sirius made you his Heir right?"  
Harry nodded, relieved that his best friend wasn't jealous.  
"How come you're a Lord, Harry? I thought you had to be 17?"  
He shrugged. "Got it early."  
Neville chose that moment to regain conciousness. He blinked a few times when he saw Harry, then he seemed to understand, got up and bowed. "Lord Black, it is an honour to meet you."  
"Neville." Harry nodded respectfully. "Please, address me by my first name. We are old friends."  
"Thank you." his friend smiled. "Dear Merlin, Harry! Dumbledore is going to have a fit!"  
"He isn't supposed to know yet! Please don't tell anyone. I won't be able to hide it forever, but I don't want the secret to come out just yet."  
"Sure." they all agreed.

"Then who is going to proofread the letter, Harry?" Hermione asked.  
Typically Hermione, to remember something like that after a shocking unrevelling, Harry smiled.  
"My solicitor" he replied.  
"How did you get a solicitor?" Neville inquired. "Who recommended him to you? Maybe he is Dark, you have to be careful, Harry."  
"It's okay, Neville. Sirius' mother told me to hire him. He's okay."  
"What? You have got to be kidding me?" Hermione exclaimed.  
"Of course I'm not." Harry said in a mock-offended tone. "It appears that when you are respectful to her, she is quite nice."  
"Then how are you going to get this to this solicitor person?" Ron asked. It would take ages to owl them to London, then back here and back to the Ministery!"  
"Kreacher!" Harry called out, smirking.  
"Yes, master. Master is calling Kreacher in the presence of his friends. Kreacher is not knowing if he should show himself." a voice whispered from somewhere in the common room.  
"It's okay, Kreacher, I've informed them of my identity."  
The elf popped in sight and bowed. "What is master wanting of Kreacher?"  
Hermione looked at him with a disapproving look in her eyes.  
"Please, Hermione. I'm not forcing him to do anything. He wants to. Right, Kreacher?"  
"Yes missie, Kreacher is liking his Master very much, sir."  
"See?" Harry asked hopefully.  
The girl just huffed and crossed her arms over each other.  
Lord Black sighed, then he addressed his elf, "Please take this to Mr. Jenkins, Kreacher. And please tell Grandmother that I am okay."  
"Yes, master." Then the elf popped out.

"Grandmother?" Ron asked confused.  
"Sirius' mother. She insists." Harry replied, "I didn't like it at first, but I'm used to it now."  
"Merlin! You call the screeching portrait Grandmother! That's hilarious!" Ron laughed. The others joined in quickly, but Harry didn't mind, he was too happy that he didn't have too many secrets for his friends any more.

* * *

Headmaster Dumbledore was pacing through his office. Harry had been in contact with Lord Black, probably still was. He knew that the boy believed that the man wasn't dark, but how could he know for sure? That was impossible. He hadn't approached the Order yet and so far Severus had had bad news.  
Draco had met the man and from his report it seemed that Lord Black was about to turn Dark.  
Of course Severus had added that he didn't know how much of the report was to be trusted. This Lord Black probably wasn't stupid. It was widely known that the Malfoys were Dark so for all they knew the man had lied. Besides, Draco would not like to come back to Voldemort with bad news, so who knew what else the man had said.  
No, there was only one option. He had to meet Lord Black in person.

He reached for his quill, he had a letter to write.

* * *

Blasted Potter! How was he supposed to know that the brat was being abused. Now he owed him a debt for Merlin's sake. If the boy was anything like his father, which he knew he was, no matter how much Potter tried to deny it, he would try to humiliate him as much as possible. And the worst thing was, there was nothing he could do about it.  
He couldn't even tell what had happened. He had to give it to Potter, that secrecy charm was good. He had tried nodding or shaking his head, tapping his foot a certain amount of times or even blinking as a way of communication, but there was no way to tell anyone what had happened.  
He didn't like the boy, but he couldn't let the Headmaster send him back to Petunia. They needed the brat to be strong to beat the Dark Lord, not beat into a pulp with the wards crashing down unexpected.

Someone knocked on his door. One of his Slytherins probably. With a huge effort he calmed down his fury and opened the door.

"Hello professor, could I talk to you for a moment?" his Godson asked.  
"Of course, Mr. Malfoy." he answered formally, letting the boy in.  
He got a hug as soon as the door had closed. "Hey uncle Sev."  
"Draco." he said, allowing a small smile. "Please sit down. To what do I owe the pleasure?"  
"Well..." the boy hesitated, "I need to talk to you about something, but you can't tell anyone."  
"Unless it is dangerous, I agree." Severus nodded.  
"It's about my meeting with Lord Black." Draco seemed really nervous. What was this about?  
"Yes?"  
"He told me that you are a spy, for Dumbledore's side."  
How did he know that? And more important, was he going to tell anyone besides Draco? He got nervous, tried to calm himself down, but failed. He knew that when the Dark Lord heard of this, he would be dead.  
"And how would he know that?" He managed to say without losing his temper.  
"He didn't want to say." his godson admitted, "Is it true?"  
What to answer? Be truthful and risk it that his godson went running to the Dark Lord? Or lie and lose his chance to turn the boy to the Light side.  
"What if it was?" he asked in a very Slytherin way.  
"I wouldn't mind." Draco hesitated before continuing. "I'm not too sure what I want any more. I used to accept that I would be a Death Eater one day without thinking about it really. I knew it was what my Father wanted me to do and that was enough, but since that talk with Lord Black..."  
"Is the man Light, then?" Severus asked, this could be important.  
"I don't think so." Draco shook his head, "He doesn't agree with either of them. That is mostly why he hasn't chosen sides yet."  
"But he is too important to stay neutral, Draco! What do you think that he is going to do?"  
Draco didn't answer.  
His godson knew something, he could tell, but if the boy didn't want to tell him, he wouldn't. It was impossible to pry a secret out of him. He wasn't the Slytherin prince for nothing. He could see every approach coming from miles away.

"Now don't change the subject! Are you with Dumbledore? I won't tell. You are my Godfather."  
Severus hesitated for just a moment longer before nodding in resignation.  
"Well I'm not Dark anymore either. I would never be able to pass the final part of initiation." the boy confided in him.  
"What do you mean? How would you know? Did your father tell you about it, he isn't supposed to."  
"He didn't. Lord Black let me know. He wanted to make sure that I knew what I was doing. I think he really cares, uncle Sev. He offered me protection."  
He was surprised. How did the man know things about initiation?  
"I'm happy for you, Draco. You know that you can always talk to me when there is something wrong." he said.  
"I know, that's why I am here. Why did you choose to follow Dumbledore? From what Lord Black told me about it, his theories are ridiculous."  
"I know, but better Dumbledore than the Dark Lord, Draco."  
"Is that the only reason?" the boy asked.  
"It is the most important one."  
"He has you under an oath, doesn't he?"

Severus shook his head. "No oath." It was close though, he had been young and foolish, accepting that deal. It had been his only way out, the only way to protect Lily and if he broke the agreement, Dumbledore would immediately drop his support. Without that support, he would be in Azkaban almost immediately.  
It seemed as if Draco understood, because he nodded, got up from his seat and left his office, leaving Severus lost in memories.

**Chapter 8 people! What do you think? There was a lot I had to say this chapter, so I hope it wasn't too confusing. I changed the point of view a lot. I'll try to avoid that in the future, but there wasn't another way to do this.**

**Next chapter: the DA and letters being answered.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry for taking so long. But here is the next chapter.  
Enjoy!**

**Chapter 9. The DA and a letter**

The next few days the Golden Trio was incredibly busy. Harry was constantly making and structuring lesson plans for the advanced group of the DA and refused to let Ron and Hermione see them. "It wouldn't be fair if you knew them while the others don't." he had stated stubbornly, and, knowing their friend wouldn't tell if he didn't want to, the other two had been forced to leave it at that. That didn't mean that they were just sitting around and waiting for him to finish, though.  
Hermione was trying to draw up a new contract, one that was safer than the last, hopefully foolproof. Ron was trying to help her by suggesting original ways of approach.  
"That's enough, Ron! Hermione finally said exasperatedly. "Eerhm, I mean, you've been a great help, but I think I can handle it from here. Why don't you, erm, I know! You should go and find the old DA members. Someone has to tell them that we are continuing the DA and how we are going to handle it this year."  
"Can't we just use the old Galleons for that?" Ron questioned.  
"Don't be stupid, Ron, how do we know if they still carry them? And even if they do, we can't pass messages, just dates and hours. We have to speak with them in person."  
So reluctantly Ron had agreed. Armed with the Marauder's map and the invisibility cloak for discretion he shuffled out of the common room, but Harry could swear that he heard him mumble, "Why do I have the feeling that I am always stuck with the stupid jobs?".

And so it was that the next Saturday the Room of Requirement was filling up with students again. The seventh years from the year before weren't there anymore of course and neither were the Weasley twins. Ron had also told him that a few Hufflepuffs had quit because Snape, no matter how reluctant Harry was to admit it, was a competent Defense teacher. Especially after the incident during first class. It seemed that Snape had realised that Harry had an advantage in that debt.  
'Don't think about that, you fool!' he said to himself. He had been trying to pretend that particular incident had never happened. That way he could act cool as if it didn't bother him at all. Truth was that he almost felt like breaking down every time he thought about it. All those years of keeping it a secret, all that hard work for nothing. At least that little secrecy thing had worked. Or he thought it had, at least the press hadn't come out with a new embarrassing story yet. He could see the covers without any effort. Or another nickname perhaps? The boy-who-was-abused. He shivered.  
'Focus on the DA.' he spoke sternly to himself. And to his great surprise it seemed that everyone was present and waiting for him to start.

"Welcome back, everyone." he said, managing a small smile, "I'm really happy to see all of you here again. Snape might be slightly more competent than Umbridge" -"As if that's hard." someone in his audience snorted and Harry smiled in agreement, "Right. Anyway, Hermione, Ron and I still thought it useful to continue. I won't be limiting these meetings to just the group of you though. I'm planning to start a Beginners group. If you think that someone is trustworthy, you can run them by me, I will consult with the board, I'll come back to that one, and he or she will be allowed to join. I'll even open up to Slytherins."  
"What? Why would you do that? That would be teaching the enemy." Smith exclaimed disdainfully.  
"Not necessarily. Last year we got betrayed by a Ravenclaw." he threw Cho an apologetic smile, "And the same way, not every Slytherin is Dark. We will give the Light and Neutral ones a chance. Which brings me to the first point of our meeting.  
This year's system is more structured than last year's. If we want to open up to more students, things will have to be clear. We will vote on some rules."  
Smith groaned theatrically. "Seriously?" he questioned, "We aren't making this too school-ish, right?"  
"Shut it, Smith!" Neville said. "You don't have to be here if you don't want to."  
Harry smiled at Neville. "Thank you." he said. "Now, if someone breaks these rules, I _will_ hear of it, there is no doubt and you don't want to know what will happen if you do, understood?"  
Everyone nodded gingerly as they saw how Harry released a fraction of his magic, letting it make his hair and robes billow around him.  
"Great!" he said happily, reigning in his magic once more. So the first one. I want everyone to be civil to one another, no matter the House they are in. Who agrees with that?"  
Every hand rose in the air, although Smith was still a little bit reluctant.  
"I want to add that that includes people outside of the DA. That goes for all these rules by the way. You will be civil to every student in this school. If they want to be childish and call you names that is their problem. You just ignore them and keep walking. Still agreed?"  
"Does that include Slytherins?" Terry Boot asked, "Cause sometimes they are really asking for it."  
Harry sighed. "I know. You all know that I have problems with Draco Malfoy, but I'm planning to behave in the future."  
"But what if they hex us?" a small Hufflepuff asked. "Can we defend ourselves?"  
"Try to disarm and ask a prefect or a Professor for help. I know that feels like snitching, but it is a lot safer than provoking them into using Dark curses." Harry said resolutely.  
"Do you agree?"  
A few hands rose immediately, but some of the others were more reluctant.  
"Oh come on. How old are you?" Ginny exclaimed. "Are you going to curse everyone you don't agree with once you finish Hogwarts too?"  
Eventually everyone agreed.  
"That also brings me to a second point. I don't want anyone to walk through the corridors alone anymore. Stay together, at least two at a time. Girls preferably even more. Our strengh is in numbers. Have you ever seen a Slytherin alone? They won't want to attack if there are a lot of you together. Tell the younger kids to do the same or escort them to places. They can't defend theirselves."  
Everyone agreed on that one pretty quickly.

"No laughing at people who don't manage a spell or potion immediately. They are trying, but not everyone is good at everything."  
"Of course we don't laugh at people!' Cho exclaimed indignantly.  
"You don't always notice that you are doing so." Luna's dreamy voice answered. "Wrackspurts make you forget that."  
"Luna is right." Harry nodded, earning an unbelieving look from Hermione, "You don't always notice. Just try okay?"  
"Fine."

"Now this is a tricky one. I will ask you to participate in every meeting we have. There will be physical exercise as well and you will not always like them, but really, it is useful, okay?"  
Some grumbling on that one, but most of them agreed. 'They don't know what they are getting themselves into', Harry thought, resisting the urge to smirk in a very Slytherin way.

A few rules later, Harry made everyone stand in a long row. "We will repeat the spells we did last year. If there is one you still have difficulties with, I will post the lesson plan of the Beginners group on the board, you can simply attend that lesson again if you want more practice, okay?"  
"That's a great idea!" Ginny smiled.  
"Thanks, Ron came up with it." this time Harry couldn't resist the urge to smirk as Ginny looked at her brother in disbelief. Ron's ears went red in embarrassment.

They then went through every spell they had covered the year before and to Harry's great joy, there were only a few that needed refreshing. Mostly the Patronus, which was logical since they had never finished that one.  
"Great work everyone." Harry smiled as they all gathered around him again, "Now I just need you to sign the contract and we'll be on our way."A nervous feel came to the room.

"Hey, don't worry. I'll explain it to you first. Or I'll make Hermione explain anyway." He grinned, gesturing to his friend.  
"Erm, hi. So I tweaked the contract from last year. Basically once you sign, you won't be able to tell anyone what is going on inside the DA or that you are in a defense group period. You won't be able to say under Veritaserum and even the strongest Legilimens will only see a blank spot. You won't be able to talk about it if someone's listening in. Not even Polyjuice will be able to help a stranger to get information. You will be able to talk to those who already know what you are about to say, but if someone misses a session, you won't be able to fill them in. Only Harry can talk about this group freely."  
"Why him and not us?" Smith remarked.  
"Shut it, idiot. We wouldn't be able to invite new people if everyone had to keep his tongue."  
Lee sniped.  
"That's right." Hermione smiled, "So it makes it physically impossible to speak about it, rather than just punishing you if you did. If, however, you manage to find a way around it, let us know so we can fix it. If someone betrays us, you will not like the consequences, I can promise you that. The contract _will_ know.

So any questions? No? You will sign by spilling ink on your thumb and pressing it on the contract. Only Harry will be able to see which fingerprint belongs to whom."

One by one, they came forward and 'signed' the contract.  
"Harry, this thing says 'Defense Association'. Weren't we 'Dumbledore's army'?" Cho asked.  
"I decided that we aren't an army, we are just students. I will try to teach you how to defend yourself, but I don't want the ministery or Dumbledore to believe that they can force you to fight." Harry proclaimed fiercely. "That is, if you agree of course?" he added sheepishly as he realised his outburst.  
They all smiled and agreed. "That's fine, Harry. I was just wondering." the Chinese girl said.  
"Just before you leave, I just want to say that I would like everyone to take turns in teaching the beginners. That way you will get to know them and I don't have the time to teach that much." Harry announced. "Don't worry, I will help you and you won't have to prepare anything. Can Neville and Justin stay behind? I want them to do the first meeting. Does everyone still have his Galleon? Yes? That's great. Then you are free to go now."

Chatting happily his advanced DA members left the room.  
"Harry, are you sure? I'm not very confident that I will be able to teach." Neville said hesitantly.  
"Of course you are!" Harry said, "We are starting with Expelliarmus. You had difficulties with that one in the beginning, so you know what they have to improve, right?"  
Neville nodded hesitantly.  
"See? It will work out. I will explain the theory and show them, then you help them master the spell. I'll stay in the room, in a silenced area, and get some studying done. If something runs out of hand, I will be able to intervene. Alright? Great! And you Justin?"  
Justin Finch-Fletchley stuck his chest forward in a pompous manner, "Of course, Harry, I am happy to help!"

"Brilliant. We are contacting a few new members tomorrow and we'll probably get some suggestions as well. Their first meeting will be next weekend. The advanced group will probably get back together this wednesday. See you then!"

He then ushered the two boys out, closed the door and dropped down in a soft chair that had appeared in a corner.

"Phew." he sighed to Ron and Hermione. "That was exhausting. So how did I do?"  
"Harry, where did all that confidence come from? You were amazing! You did great last year of course, but this was really nice!" Hermione asked curiously.  
"Grandmother insists that confidence is really important for a Lord. She made me pracise. A lot." Harry laughed.  
"Well, it definitely worked." Ron said. "What's next?"  
"I thought it would be nice to test the contract." Hermione started, "I mean, check if Harry can see whose fingerprints are on the contract."  
"Sure." Harry said, sitting up and reaching for the contract, "What do I do?"  
"Just tap your wand at a fingerprint and say _Quis?_" Hermione explained.  
Harry followed her instructions and tapped a random print. The ink of the thumbprint changed into letters, spelling _Anthony Richard Goldstein_. A few moments later it turned back into the fingerprint.  
"That's amazing, Hermione. Did you see that?"  
"See what, mate, nothing happened." Ron answered, looking at his friend as if checking if he was alright.  
"We aren't able to see it, Ron, only Harry can." Hermione explained.  
"But why?" the Potter Heir asked, "you made the contract. Why can't you see it then?"  
"I tied it to you, you are the contracter, not me." the smart Gryffindor girl smiled.  
"You should look at it like a Fidelius charm. You are our secret keeper. I figured it would be the safest, with you knowing Occlumency and all."  
He nodded in understanding. "Okay, I get it. Now what do I do with the contract? I don't want to leave it here anymore, it's what got us caught last time."

"I've been thinking about that." Ron admitted, "We could just charm it to look like an old piece of parchment, you know, like the map? Even if someone were to know that it was a contract, they would still need the password to look at it, right?"  
"That's brilliant, Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, "Why didn't I think of that?"  
"You probably would have." Ron mumbled. "Now we still have to find the spell to do it."  
"That shouldn't be hard." Harry grinned, scrunching up his face as if he was thinking hard.

The Room changed into a comfortable sitting area with a large book collection. One book landed on the coffee table in front of them.  
"There you are." he laughed. The book was titled, _Hiding in plain sight_ by Geronimo Kettle.

It didn't take long for the trio to find the spell. "Now we still need to set a password." Hermione stated. "Does anyone have an idea?"  
"I do." Harry said, "What about 'Voldemort's end'? Almost no one wants to say the name, so they wouldn't accidentally guess it or anything and a Death Eater would sooner drop dead than saying it. Even hearing it makes their Dark Mark burn them for disrespect."  
Ron scrunched up his face in disgust. "Really? That's why they call him the Dark Lord? Sick bastard." Then his face lit up. "Can't we go and find Snape and have a lengthy conversation about Snake Face just around the corner?"  
"Don't be so childish, Ronald." Hermione admonished. "Professor Snape is on the good side, remember."  
"Oh, right." Ron sighed in disappointment.

"I do like the password, Harry. I'll set it to that then."  
Afterwards, Harry rolled up the parchment and placed it in an inside pocket of his robe, next to the Marauder's map.  
"Time for dinner." Ron announced.

"How would you know? You don't have a watch and I can't see a clock anywhere." Hermione rolled her eyes.  
Immediately they spotted one in the corner. Its hands pointed at six.  
With a triumphant look Ron got up and marched to the door.  
"Well," he said, tapping his foot impatiently at his dumbfounded friends, "Aren't you coming?"  
"The power of his stomach." Hermione mumbled as they made their way to the Great Hall.

Most people were already seated by the time they were there.  
A few owls swept in as soon as the plates had cleaned themselves.  
"Evening post." Dennis Creevey announced as he did every night. He was always the first to spot them.  
One of the owls landed next to Harry. It bore the seal of the Ministery.  
Immediately he nudged his friends. Hermione gasped in excitement.  
"Well, open it, what are you waiting for?" Ron ushered.

Harry broke the seal carefully and unfolded the heavy parchment.

_Heir Potter_

_After reading your letter concerning the Daily Prophet and the actions of Undersecretary Dolores Umbridge, I was shocked to say the least. I was never aware of the injustice done to your person and, for that matter, to your most Ancient and Noble House.  
__I promise you that a full investigation will be devoted to this.  
For that purpose, I would like to schedule a meeting to report your side of the facts in an __official statement.  
The Ministery has the next Hogsmeade visit for students scheduled in two weeks.  
If you are available to meet one of our officials then, please send us a time by returning owl._

_Heir Potter, if I may ask, why did you not send this letter sooner? The Ministery would not have let Madam Umbridge stay at Hogwarts if they would have been aware of this information._

_Sincerely  
Amelia Bones  
__Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement  
Ministery of Magic_

In a daze he passed the letter to Hermione, who shrieked in excitement as she read it.  
"That's great, Harry! I'm so happy for you."  
He nodded without listening to what she was saying. He was stay calm, not to get angry and to keep his magic levels under control. Dumbledore knew about the blood quill, he was almost certain of it. He knew that Umbridge abused her power, he could have notified the Ministery and make it stop. If it would have stopped, McGonagall and Dumbledore would have been at Hogwarts when he had gotten his vision of Sirius and Sirius would have stayed alive.  
He had always blamed himself for Sirius' death, but apparently he wasn't the only one to have made a mistake.  
He should have had a way to communicate with the Order directly, Dumbledore had said that it existed. Wasn't he important enough to be allowed to use it? He saw attacks for Merlin's sake and he was their most important weapon. Anger was beginning to make his vision go red.  
His robes started to billow around him, his hair stood up straight, crackling with magic. The enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall clouded.  
Harry knew that he had to get out of there. He didn't want anyone to get hurt.  
With his last resolve he stood up and forced himself to walk normally, not wanting to attract attention even more than he already had.

He didn't notice how Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Neville threw each other concerned looks and went after him.  
He didn't notice how a certain blonde Slytherin on the other side of the Great Hall was staring at him with great interest or how the Headmaster was trying to make eye contact to find out what was going on.

Harry started running as soon as he turned a corner, he ran straight to the Shrieking Shack, knowing that everything there could be destroyed.  
He closed the door behind him, warded all the entrances and finally let go.  
Every window that wasn't already broken, shattered. Furniture splintered or was blown against the wall. The floors croaked dangerously and the roof was quivering.  
Every fireplace in the rickety building lit up at the same time, burning without needing to be fueled by wood.  
He felt his eyes prickling, his ears seemed to be hypersensitive and he felt incredibly warm, as if he was about to burst aflame.  
Then a small presence entered his mind, hissing softly for him to calm down, that everything would be okay. He refused to listen to it at first, but slowly he allowed himself to be calmed down.  
Sentar had slithered down and had wrapped himself around one of Harry's arms.

"Are you okay, Massster?" he hissed in concern, "Your anger was great."  
"Yess, I am fine now. Thank you for helping me." Harry whispered back, his throat raw from screaming while he hadn't realised he had been doing so.  
"You should lie down for a while, Master. I will guard you and alarm you when someone tries to enter. You are safe here."  
"I think I will do that." Harry gave in. "Just don't let me sleep too long and please don't let anyone see you unless it is an emergency, okay? I want you to stay safe too."  
"Yes, Master." the snake hissed with an undertone of a smile that probably only very experienced parseltongues would be able to notice. He guided his young Master to the next room, making him lie down on what was left of a bed.  
"Sssleep." he said once more, before wrapping himself around the boy's chest in protection.  
Harry felt himself grow even more tired before a feeling of safety spread through his body and he finally fell asleep.

**Chapter 9 already! Really, a thousand apologies for taking so long. I had a lot on my mind lately, but I am not giving up on this story.  
I hope you liked it, please review, it always makes my day if you do.  
Do you like the way I am setting up the DA?  
And what about punishments for Umbridge and the Daily Prophet, any suggestions?**

**Sincerely  
Dolceconbrio**


	10. Chapter 10

**I got some advice on how to lay-out a conversation last time. Does this look better? Let me know.  
For now: enjoy.**

**Chapter 10. Explanations and a fight**

When Harry woke up the next morning, he felt terrible. He was quite used to having sore muscles, being a Quidditch player and the Dursley's personal house elf, but this was definitely even worse.  
He tried to sit up, but his arm twisted as soon as he put weight on it and he fell back down on the matress.

"Goodmorning, Master." Sentar hissed, "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got hit by the Hogwarts Express." Harry grunted, even his vocal chords seemed to be strained. When the snake looked at him in a confused way he added "It's a human thing. I feel terrible."

"You should get up, Master. The other humans are worried. They have been trying to break your magic walls to get in, but they did not succeed."

"Do you mean that even _Dumbledore_ couldn't break my wards?" Harry hissed in surprise.  
"What happened yesterday anyway? Why am I feeling like crap?"  
Sentar hissed in disapproval at his language. Harry rolled his eyes.

"You unleashed your magic, Master, you couldn't control it any longer. My Master is very strong." he hissed in admiration.

"Did anyone notice?" Harry said panicking, "I don't want anyone to know that I've been training."

"They noticed that something was wrong when you ran out of the food room and the bearded one didn't understand why he couldn't break your magic walls, but they did not see any effects of the outburst." Sentar informed him, making Harry relax a little.

"The large human is still waiting outside for you to wake up and come out, Master. Perhaps you should talk to him. It is none of their business, but they are concerned about your health."

"Of course." Harry sighed, then winced as he tried to get up again, "But do you have any suggestions on _how_ I should get up?"

If he wouldn't have known better, Harry could have sworn that the snake chuckled. "I will help you, Master. Close your eyes." The boy did so.

"Imagine your magic inside of you, use the mind magicks to find it."  
Harry focused on his Occlumency shields and turned inwards to find his magical core. It looked healthy as ever, even though he would have thought it to be damaged somehow by yesterday's outburst.

"It was not your magic that was strained, young Master, but your body." Sentar explained as if guessing what Harry was thinking, "It can not handle your entire magic reserve yet. You should let your magic help you. Make it flow into the muscles to heal."  
As soon as he did so, he immediately felt it take effect. A warmth soaked his entire body in comfort, glowing even through his closed eyelids before collecting itself back in his core.  
He felt a lot better now.

"Thank you." he smiled at his familiar.

"My pleasure, Master." the snake answered before uncoiling its body and slipping back underneath Harry's robes. "I am hidden now, Master, you can go outside."

"Okay." Harry said, while casting a spell to remove the crinkles out of his robe.

They had decided that it would be unwise for Harry to be seen with a snake familiar. Definitely because Draco might recognise him, even though he didn't know what Harry had done to his mark.

"'Arry!" Hagrid exclaimed as soon as he exited the Shrieking Shack. "'Ow are ye feelin'? Are ye'll right? Ye ran from the Great Hall like summat was chasing yer."

"I'm fine, Hagrid." Harry smiled, "I just got an upsetting letter, that's all."

"Well, if you say so." Hagrid nodded, "Dumbledore asked me to get yer, he did. Was worried out of his mind, if I may say so. Couldn' get in the Shack." He looked at Harry with a curious look in his eyes, "How did yer manage that anyway?"

"I have no idea." Harry sighed honestly. They arrived at the Headmaster's office. Luckily Hagrid knew the password, for the Potter Heir was not really in the mood to play the 'guess-the-sweet-game'.

"Ah, Harry, my dear boy. Thank you, Hagrid, for bringing him in." The half giant smiled and waved before leaving again.  
"I think I speak for most of the teachers and your friends if I say that we were worried last night, Harry. What got you so upset?"

"I merely received some troublesome mail, Headmaster, you don't have to worry about it." Harry said politely.

Dumbledore's eyes widened. "Was it from Lord Black, by any chance?"

"It wasn't, actually." the raven haired boy said in an even tone.

"Would you mind informing me what it was about then, my dear boy?" the man asked, playing with some loose strands of his beard, "You almost lost control of your magic."

Normally Harry would refuse to answer that question, but since it would come out anyway, he could use this opportunity to gain some more trust from the old man. "It was from the Ministry. I issued a complaint against Umbridge for what she did to me last year." he said quietly.

"You did? Was that absolutely necessary, Harry?" Dumbledore admonished, "I know that she wasn't really nice, but you could have left the matter alone now."

"I couldn't, Headmaster. Where she not only repeatedly questioned my honor, she also used a most illegal object on me and, as I heard from several sources, on some other students."

Was it just him, or was Dumbledore truly ignorant. He frowned in confusion. "I am afraid that I am missing something here." he admitted.

"She called me a liar, Professor." Harry explained, "And there was the fact that she made students write lines with a blood quill."

"She did _what_?" the Headmaster asked. He suddenly didn't look like the fragile old man anymore, his magic escaping his veins to wave around him.

"She used a blood quill, Professor. Am I to understand that you weren't aware of this?" he asked.

"Of _course_ I was not!" he said indignantly, "I would not let my students come to harm!"

"I see. Several students tried to tell their Heads of Houses, but they were ignored. Instead they came to me, or at least the children of the DA did, and Hermione found a way to ease the pain. We were the only ones they could turn to, Professor! Do you understand why I got angry when I read that she could have been sent away for those facts? That if someone would have reported this, so many children could have been spared the pain? That Sirius could have been alive." He ended in a small voice, mentally berating himself for getting angry again.

Dumbledore crumbled in his seat, looking up at Harry with teary-eyes. "I have wronged you yet again, my boy."

"Perhaps, Headmaster. But it wasn't just me this time." He elegantly rose from his chair. "Now, if you willl excuse me, like you said, my friends are probably worried about me."

"Of course." the Professor said. He gestured to the door.

Harry nodded in goodbye. Before leaving, Harry turned to the perch where Fawkes was sitting and gave the phoenix a small smile. The beautiful creature flew onto his shoulder and nudged his head against Harry's wild hair, as if asking permission to preen him.  
"Another time, Fawkes." he whispered. "The Headmaster needs you now."

Fawkes let out a cry in agreement and as Harry left the office, the phoenix started a comforting song.

* * *

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked worried as he joined them for breakfast, "You were gone for a long time."

"I'm fine, thanks. Just needed some space."

"Of course, mate." Ron nodded. "Are you accepting the meeting?"

"I am." Harry confirmed. "I'll send off an owl as soon as I we finish here." He felt eyes in his back and turned to spot Draco Malfoy staring at him. The blonde looked away as soon as he noticed. What was going on there? He hoped the boy would send Lord Black a letter if something was bothering him. Sometimes it could be nice to be two persons at once.

"We should prepare for this, you know." Hermione said, "Why don't we go and find some books on Wizarding law after breakfast?"

"That's not necessary, Hermione. I do have a solicitor, remember."

"We still should!" she said stubbornly, "What if you say something that gets you into trouble, or if you can't get everything worded nicely. We have to practice the conversation."

"No, we don't." Harry answered. "Hermione, I have already studied some of this, you know that."

"Harry, this isn't the moment to get all laid-back. This is important!"

"I know." he said, gritting his teeth. "But my solicitor and I will be fine. I have already told him to schedule an appointment to go over this."

"Fine then." she huffed. "So, what time are we meeting them?"

"What do you mean?" Harry said, genuinely confused.

Neville looked at Hermione, trying to gesture to stop talking.

"Well, the meeting with the Ministry officials of course. In two weeks, but at what time? I would suggest around 2 p.m in the Three Broomsticks, that way I can still pick up those books I ordered."

"Hermione, you are not coming with me to the meeting." Harry said, trying to keep his cool.

"What? Why not? I could give some extra information if you leave anything out. I still have that list of injured students."

"I don't need a list, Hermione, I _know_ who was injured. This is a something I need to do alone. That is the end of this conversation."

Ron looked back and forth between his two best friends. Harry almost never argued. He knew this would get bad really fast. "Neville." he whispered desperately, but the Longbottom Heir shook his head. "This is up to Harry."

"So you are going to be selfish now?" Hermione shrieked in anger, "After all I did to help last year?"

"This isn't about you, okay?" Harry said, also losing his temper. "They won't take me seriously if you are there to interupt my every word and offend them.!"

"I wouldn't do that!"

"You would! You don't know _anything_ about Wizarding society, Hermione! You are not coming!"

"That is NOT true!" the witch said, raising her voice slightly. "I have read about it a lot, you know that. I probably know more than you do. I know how to behave."

"You don't." Harry said, "And this completely proves my point."  
After that he got up, nodded to the purebloods that were watching the scene and left the Great Hall.

"Now you've done it." Ron mumbled to Hermione.

"_I_'ve done it? It was he who didn't want my help and called me names."

"He didn't call you names, Hermione. And, well, he was sort of right." Ron whispered hesitantly.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she shrieked.

Ron looked at Neville in obvious despair.  
"Fine. Hermione, Harry was right. He has to do this alone. They would never respect him as an Heir if you were there to talk for him." Neville explained.

"But I always did. What's wrong about that."

"You are not going to like this." Neville warned.  
Hermione nodded impatiently.

"It's because you are muggleborn." Neville held up his hand so she wouldn't start yelling before he finished. "You weren't raised here and you don't know about traditions -"

"But _Harry-"_

"I know, I know, Harry grew up with muggles as well, but he studied Heir books, he knows them by heart. He was tutored and he is supposed to take up Wizengamot seats next year, he knows what he is doing."

"I didn't know that." Hermione mumbled.

"I know you didn't. That is what Harry was trying to say. You try to help him, but you would probably offend people because you don't know some things. Because you _can't possibly _know some things. You have been doing it all year you know?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, trying to understand.

"Well, just now you kept going, even though Harry made it clear he didn't want to discuss this any longer. He outranks you, Hermione. You should have stopped right there if you wanted to prove that you knew what you were doing."  
Hermione covered her face.

"Furthermore, you read his mail last night, you shouldn't have done that. He didn't realise he was giving it to you and you know it. Then there is your critique against house elves, which is unfounded cause they _need _a master to survive. Dobby is probably tied to Harry already, even though Harry doesn't acknowledge it. You tried to tell him off for defending his honor in class. Do I need to go on?"

"I suppose not." Hermione sighed, almost crying now. "But why didn't he say anything?"

"How would you have reacted, Hermione?" Ron asked softly, "He was trying to let you be yourself, be you kept overstepping boundaries."

The girl nodded in dismay. "Fine then. He can go alone to that meeting."

Neville was trying really hard not to laugh, as if Harry needed her permission. She was acting like she was doing him a huge favour by 'allowing' him to go. This would probably not be the last time they had this conversation.

* * *

So Potter and Granger had finally had that fight, Draco observed. He had been wondering how long that would take. The mudblood was obviously not aware of how she was acting.  
He was curious about that upsetting letter, though. What could be going on in Potter's Perfect little world? Deciding to honor his agreement with Lord Black, he wrote a letter that night to inform him of the unusual occurrence.  
He hadn't wanted to admit it of course, but this week of being neutral had been nice. The younger years still let him pass when he came across them in the hallways, but they didn't run in fear. They respected him now. He added that into the letter as well, the man had said that they were a real family, so it should be okay. And it was not like he could write this to his Father, how stupid that would sound: _ Dear Father, I have decided to like mudbloods from now on. Oh, and by the way, I'm questioning my loyalty to the Dark Lord and I had my initiation mark removed. __Love, Draco._ Yeah, that would go well.  
He was supposed to meet Lord Black again the next weekend and he still hadn't made his mind up completely, yet, but things were becoming more clear by the day. He would be ready, he was sure of it.

* * *

Harry had run straight up to the dormitory. He had known this was coming, but he had wanted to postpone it for as long as possible. Now he could only hope that Hermione would actually understand.  
Kreacher popped into the room. "Master," he said, bowing low, "A letter was delivered this morning, sir."

"Thank you, Kreacher. If that is all?"

"Yes, Master." the elf said, bowing again before disappearing.

Harry recognized the fine script as that from the Headmaster. Curious, he broke the seal and read through it.  
After reading it he couldn't resist smirking. Dumbledore had decided not to wait for him to make a move any longer and had gone ahead and called a Wizengamot meeting, stating it was about possible protections that were needed because of the war. Since he had a seat there as Lord Black he was required to attend. A smart way to meet him without raising suspicion, only Harry had seen straight through his methods. Oh, he would still go, but he would be prepared. Dumbledore wouldn't know what hit him.

Now he had to focus on the DA. He had known that it would take a lot of time to start it up again. Some people had apparently already suggested some people who were trustworthy to join last night while he was... out, and Hermione had dutifully written them down on loose slips of parchment. Those were now scattered on his bed while he was trying to sort them by year and house. There were 25 suggested Gryffindors, 20 from Ravenclaw, 21 were Hufflepuffs and to his surprise there were even 3 Slytherin names written down. After checking there names, he did notice that they seemed to be related to current members of the DA.

He gathered the pieces of parchment and put them in his box of secrets so no one would be able to find them. Next he picked up his invisibility cloak and the Marauder's map and exited the tower to find his possible new members. Soon he spotted a small group of red dots that were all suggested candidates. They were in the company of Colin Creevy, so he could suspect who exactly had suggested them. From the looks of it on the map, they were sitting by the large willow tree by the lake.  
Since there was no one else around them, Harry thought it would be a nice place to start.

Taking various hidden passages it didn't take him long to get there. He snuck behind them and tried to listen in. They were just talking about homework, but it seemed like it was quite the clever bunch. "Hi Colin." Harry said, taking of his cloak. "I expect that you know why I am here?"

"Harry! Nice to see you." Colin beamed, then he turned to his friends, "Everyone, this is Harry Potter. Harry, these are Andrew Clevely," a dark haired boy nodded politely, "Terrence Foggerty," a blonde looked at him shrewedly, Harry smiled uncomfortably, "and Thomas Paley." The boy completing the quartet had blond hair and looked like he wanted to get up and ask his autograph right away.  
Harry took a deep breath. "Nice to meet you guys. May I sit down?" he asked politely.

"Of course, Heir Potter." Andrew answered in a dignified manner. Harry did so and studied the boy for a while. "You must be the Clevely Heir. Please call me Harry." He invited. The family was a known light one.

"Andrew." the boy stated, now smiling lightly.

"I came here to ask you something." he started, looking at all of them. "You might know that Colin was in a defence group last year." the boys nodded hesitantly, "That's okay, after it was disbanded there was no reason for Colin not to tell. Don't worry." They looked relieved and Colin beamed up at him again.  
"I wanted to ask for you to join this year. That is, if you are interested?"

"Brilliant." Thomas and Andrew exclaimed. "That would be sooo cool."

"What would we learn?" Terrence asked, "Maybe we should wait to agree until we known what we are getting ourselves into." he explained, looking at his friends in a way that sent them looking sheepishly.  
Harry was strongly reminded of Hermione and smiled. He continued to explain what he wanted to achieve and clearly stated that they would be in the beginners group until they caught up with the rest of the members.  
In the end they all agreed and signed the contract.

"Welcome then." Harry said, "I will make sure you get a galleon by the end of the week. I'll see you at the first meeting. He then got his cloak back on and disappeared from sight.

The boys started to whisper fervently right away and Harry couldn't help but frown a little. This shouldn't be necessary, they were so happy to join, but if there wouldn't be a war, this group wouldn't even exist. He just hoped that he was making the right choice.

He got the map out again and looked for the next group to convince.

By the end of the weekend he had talked to all of the candidates. Most of them had joined, but there were a few that had dismissed him quite clearly, stating that they didn't want anything to do with him or the war.

To his great joy two of the Slytherins had accepted his invitation and even suggested a few more to join. So now the new DA counted 9 Slytherin members and had hopes for more to join during the week.

Just before going to bed on Sunday night, a second year approached him in the common room. The boy handed him a scroll, telling him the Headmaster had asked him to hand it to Harry. "Thanks, Jason." he said. "I'll see you at the DA." he added in a whisper.

The kid lit up at being recognized. "Yes, Captain." he nodded.

"_Captain?_" Harry wondered. Why would the boy call him that? It was true that he had accepted the Quidditch Captain position that weekend when McGonagall had asked. It would have been suspicous if he had declined after all, no matter how busy he already was. But why would someone not on the team call him that?

He asked Neville while he was changing and the guy grinned. "Didn't you hear? Some of the younger members of the DA felt uncomfortable just calling you Harry, so they started to call you that. Everyone has pretty much picked it up."

"Already? I just asked them to join yesterday!"

"The mill goes fast around here." Neville shrugged.

"By the way, do you know where Ron is? I haven't seen him all weekend." Harry asked, feeling a little bit guilty by just noticing now.

"In the library with Hermione. She's been researching ever since you had that argument." Neville supllied hesitantly.

"After curfew?" Harry asked unbelievingly.

The Longbottom Heir shrugged. "Apparently so. They are prefects so technically they are allowed to break curfew. Something about their duties consuming a lot of time, so they get more time to study by an extended curfew. I don't completely get it either. But they are allowed."

Harry nodded in understanding. "Good night." he added when Neville closed his curtains.

"Good night, Captain."

**Chapter 10 is finished. I hope you like it. Sorry for the long wait. I don't have any excuses, just had some difficulties with the plot. I hope you forgive me.**

**Please _review_! It completely makes my day and since my exams are coming up, I can use the encouragement.**

**What did you think about the fight? Hermione lost her temper quite a bit, huh? Tell me if you liked it. It was quite difficult to have them fight without breaking character too much.**

**Coming up: Wizengamot and perhaps somethings else, that is for me to know and for you to see.**

**Sincerely  
Dolceconbrio**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11. Voldemort strikes**

The following morning, Harry realised that in all his confusion about the 'captain' thing, he had forgotten to open the Headmaster's scroll. It contained an invitation to come to his office that evening to 'talk about the incident from the day before'.  
While Harry really wasn't in the mood to have that conversation again this soon, he still felt he had to accept. He could think all he wished, but the man was still his Headmaster.  
He only hoped that Dumbledore had calmed down enough to talk about it in a normal way and that he wouldn't try and prevent him from going through with the investigation.

It was with these thoughts that he climbed the stairs to the Headmaster's office that night, feeling very smug with himself for remembering the password Hagrid had given the day before, even after all these busy proceedings.

"Ah, Harry, my boy. Please come in." Dumbledore invited as Harry was about to knock. I still have to find out how he does that, he thought to himself, politely declining the usual offer of lemon drops.  
"I wanted to come back on what you told me yesterday." The older man started, "I do apologize for not noticing anything earlier. I do not want to make excuses, but you have to believe me when I say that I did not know of Dolores Umbridge's malicious tendencies."

The Potter Heir nodded curtly. "I believe you, Professor, but I am not sure if I can forgive you just yet. It had just too many bad consequences." He resisted the urge to look down sadly and focused on the man's gold rimmed glasses instead, carefully evading to actually look in his eyes.

The man sighed sadly, but nodded in understanding. "I can live with that, my boy."

"Is there perhaps anything else you wanted to talk to me about?" Harry suggested after a brief moment of silence.

"I wanted to ask if there was anything I could do on the matter." Dumbledore admitted, "I am responsible for my professors and therefore I would like to do anything to help set it right."

"Currently I have everything under control." Harry said, smiling in appreciation of the offer, "I have my solicitor looking in on the case. That does remind me, it would help if you would give me permission to meet him. I would likely have to leave Hogwarts one evening to do so."

While he could see that Dumbledore wasn't happy about him leaving school grounds at all, he could hardly forbid him after the offer he had just made. He had to resist smiling in pride as the man nodded reluctantly. "Of course, Harry. As long as you are going somewhere safe. Are you sure you can trust this man?"

"I am, professor." the youth said curtly, refusing to give any more information on the subject. He knew that the man was just concerned, but he would handle this on his own. He did not want Dumbledore to 'coincidentally' stumble in on the meeting.  
"Would this Friday be alright?" he requested.

"Certainly. I will let Minerva know that you have my permission to leave." the Headmaster smiled.

"If there is anything else, Professor? It is getting quite late and I still have homework to complete."

"Yes, before you go, Harry. I noticed you and Miss Granger had a small falling-out this weekend. Is everything alright?"

"Merely a difference in opinion, sir. Nothing to worry about." Harry said politely, effectively brushing the Headmaster's meddling off. He then got up and wished him goodnight, leaving for Gryffindor Tower.

On the way back he couldn't resist smiling widely. The Headmaster had given him permission to leave the entire evening that Friday, the exact evening of the Wizengamot Meeting.  
He would have enough time to talk with his solicitor before and after, thus ensuring that Dumbledore wouldn't suspect a thing. And without lying a single time. He felt quite proud of himself for acting this Slytherin.

He was still smiling when he bumped in to a scowling Snape that came billowing around the corner way too fast. "Watch it, Potter." the man snapped. "Ten points from Gryffindor for not watching where you are going."

"I apologize, Professor." Harry said, getting back to his feet. "I can assure you that I did not hurt myself at all, this time. Truly. I hope that you are alright as well?"

He grinned inside his head as the man paled at the subtle hint to the debt he still owed.

"I'm fine, Potter." Snape said, trying not to sound angry. "I apologize for bumping into you." He then straightened out his robes and walked on.

Yes, Harry thought to himself, sometimes life was very nice.

* * *

Since people kept approaching him about Quidditch tryouts, Hary had put up a notice in the Gryffindor common room, announcing that they would be on Sunday and to leave him alone about the subject until then. For some reason everyone seemed to obey that request. Well, everyone...

"Oh, come on, Harry! You must have some idea on who you are putting on the team already," Ron whispered urgently.

"For the millionth time, Ron, No! I am going to wait until after I've seen the tryouts before I even start _thinking_ about it." Harry hissed back, trying to keep quiet.  
Binns might be ignorant to people not paying attention in his class, he still wasn't deaf.

"But are you keeping the current members? Or are you looking for an entire new team?" Ron was not what you called subtle, Harry thought to himself, while trying to ignore his best friend. Why didn't he just ask if he could stay on? He would never know, but that was Ron for you.

"Honestly, Ron." he said when he couldn't take it anymore, "I am happy with the current team members, but if someone comes along who is even better, I might switch around, alright? You are a great keeper, but everyone gets a chance. Will you stop talking about it now?"

"Errm, yes? Sorry, Harry." Ron said, his ears becoming red in embarrassment of being caught.

Harry shook his head in amusement and snickered softly.

Hermione shot him an indignant look at the sound, then caught Harry looking at her and immediately whipped around again, taking notes once more.  
She insisted that she was not angry with him, but Harry didn't really believe her. He just hoped that she would be alright with the situation if she had enough time to let it sink in.

It wasn't fair. She didn't know how hard it was and he couldn't explain it to her. The only way to understand, was to live through it yourself and that was impossible.  
Wait. Was it impossible? He had the feeling that he had just had the most brilliant idea ever.

"Harry, are you alright? You look very creepy." Neville whispered hesitantly.

"I'm fine. Thanks, Neville."

* * *

"You want to do _what?_" Hermione asked unbelievingly when they finally sat down in the common room that night.

"I told you that I couldn't take you with me to the Ministry meeting, right?" Harry explained.

Hermione nodded hesitantly.

"Well, if I simply use a pensieve afterwards, you could still be there." he beamed.

"It wouldn't be completely the same, though, would it?" she asked slowly, "I won't actually be there and they won't hear me if I want to say something."

"I know, I know." Harry nodded, "But I could explain what their reaction would be and I can tell you what I am saying and why, right?"

"I suppose."

"A little more enthousiasm, please." Harry grinned.

The girl looked over to Ron and Neville, who were both nodding in agreement.

Hermione sighed in defeat. "Fine then. If it makes you happy, I'll view the memories with you afterwards."

"Great!" Harry exclaimed. He was sure that the girl would understand after having been in a meeting herself.

* * *

"We have planned this carefully. If anything goes wrong, it will be your responsibility, Lucius." Harry promised the death eater kneeling in front of him in a high and cool voice.

"Yes, Master. Everything will go as planned." the man said, trembling. Harry couldn't help but smile at the sight of his loyal follower in fear of him.

As soon as he noticed that this was a vision, Harry slammed down his occlumency shields. Unfortunately, this only gave him a feeling of distance, but did not allow him to wake up or retreat from Voldemort's mind.

He was forced to see a gruesome scene unfold before his eyes. Although Voldemort did not really act in the raid himself, he did position himself on a hill top with oversight of the entire muggle village. Little children were tortured, women were raped and the men were killed in a horrific manner after witnessing it all. And to Harry's own abhorrence, he still wondered how the Ministry would be able to cover this mess up.

After the entire town had been burned down to the ground, Voldemort finally released his hold on Harry's mind and the teen was allowed to wake up in his own curtained bed at Hogwarts.

The first thing he did, was to throw up violently over the edge of his bed.  
Immediately Ron was beside him. "Mate, are you alright? Are you ill?"

Harry shook his head, still trembling a little.

Ron's eyes widened in understanding, he lowered his voice and whispered, "A vision?"

"Yes. I should probably inform Dumbledore." he whispered painfully.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Ron asked concerned.

Harry hesitated. He really didn't want to be alone right now, but on the other hand he wouldn't want Ron to hear this. It was up to his friend to decide, he said to himself. Then he nodded. "If you don't mind?"

"Of course not." Ron smiled. "Come on then."

As they stumbled through the dark castle, their footsteps seemed to echo in a way that made Harry glad that he wasn't going alone. Not that he had minded before, but the terrible murders were still replaying in his mind. So when he saw a man in dark robes appear in the corridor, he had his wand out and pointed at the person in the blink of an eye.

"Potter, what do you think you are doing? Put that wand down immediately." The familiar voice snapped viciously. "Thinking you are above the rules again? Breaking curfew like some foolish first year. You always thought you were above anyone else, didn't you-"

"We are on our way to Dumbledore." Ron interrupted the man's tirade.

"That's Headmaster Dumbledore to you, Weasley. And what makes you think that you can storm into his office in the middle of the night?"

"Harry had a vision." Ron snapped, "And he isn't feeling well, so just shut it, okay?"

"Ten points from Gryffindor. Watch your mouth, Weasley." Snape sneered. "I shall escort you to the Headmaster's office. Then we will see about your story."

Walking with the bat from the dungeons didn't make Harry feel safer, so he kept his hand on his wand until they were safely in the round shaped office. The moment they stepped through the door, Fawkes landed on his shoulder and sang a comforting tune.

"Harry, my boy. What is wrong?" Dumbledore asked, coming through a hidden door in the back of the office. The man was wearing sleeping robes with sparkling stars and moons and looked as if he had been asleep just moments before.

"I had a vision, Headmaster." Harry said tiredly. Immediately, Dumbledore looked more alert. "What happened, Harry? What did you see?"

So Harry started his explanations with Lucius Malfoy bowing to him. When he spoke of the moment in which he brought down his occlumency shields, Snape made a snorting noise, but Harry ignored him and continued his story. When he wanted to start on his descriptions of torture, Dumbledore stopped him. But instead of asking more details of the vision, he said, "Are you quite alright, my dear boy?"

Harry nodded, startled. "Yes, of course. I'm fine."

"No, he is not." Ron said. Harry snapped his head aside in surprise. He had almost forgotten his friend was there. The redhead was looking decidedly pale and slightly nauseous. "He threw up almost immediately after he woke up and I practically had to carry him here. He is not doing 'fine'."

Harry smiled at his friend and said, "I know, Ron and thanks for helping me, but I am doing better now. Honest."

Ron nodded in acceptance, but he still looked a bit wary. Still, the Potter Heir was happy that he was willing to drop it. He knew that the boy was just looking out for him.

"Harry, I know that this is difficult. And I hate that you had to see this, but could you perhaps provide the memory for us?" the headmaster asked softly.

Harry knew that Dumbledore was asking to see his memory of the raid in a pensieve, so he brought his wand to his temple and focused on the attack, feeling like he could throw up once more.

To his credit, Dumbledore didn't ask how he knew the way to catch a memory, but simply got out his pensieve so he could store it.  
When Ron also made to touch the liquid, Harry stopped him. "Ron, I won't tell you what to do, but are you sure you want to see this?"

His friend swallowed and looked at him. "I know that this will be difficult, but we are in a war. I think that I need to see what I am fighting for." he said bravely, making Harry smile softly.

"Alright then. But in that case I am coming too." he announced.

Ron looked startled. "But you already saw this once. You don't have to see it again." he protested.

"I'm not letting you do this alone, Ron. I'll watch it again if I have to." he answered resolutely.

Snape looked vaguely disgusted, but Dumbledore merely smiled and invited them to touch the memory.

Harry felt that all the stares were directed at him while they watched the scene unfold. Voldemort threatening, Lucius groveling and then the torture. Snape looked extremely interested when the moment of his occlumency came up and inspected Harry shrewdly. He, in turn, was not paying attention to his Potions Professor. He was trying to check if his best friend was doing okay. Ron was completely horrified and Harry barely managed to conjure a bucket before the redhead got sick.

Finally they could get out of the memory. Immediately, Snape grabbed his chin, forcing his eyes on his own and Harry felt him enter his mind. This time, he did know what to do however and he immediately held him out. The probing got harsher, even violent, but Snape didn't even come close to entering his mind, so eventually he gave up.

"How did you learn?" the man demanded after he abandoned his try. "You were horrible at this and now you can keep me out?"

"Did Lord Black teach you, Harry?" Dumbledore asked.  
Harry glared at him for spilling that little detail and shrugged.

"You are in contact with that man?" Snape exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell the Order, Headmaster? We have been trying to get more information on that man for months!"

"Harry did not wish to divulge any information." Dumbledore answered quietly. "I could not convince him to do otherwise."

Snape looked as if he was going to start a tirade any minute now and he really wasn't in the mood.

"Professor, may we go now?" he asked quickly.

"Of course, my boys." the old man smiled.

Harry felt Ron's eyes on him the entire way back to Gryffindor tower.  
"How do you stand it, mate? Seeing things like that all the time." he eventually asked.

The Potter Heir shrugged. "It's not as if I really got a choice, right?"

"I suppose." Ron said, averting his eyes awkwardly.  
Harry suspected that his friend was finally beginning to understand how being him wasn't all that perfect and, while he did not enjoy how it came to be, he did feel somewhat relieved. Perhaps he wouldn't have to try as hard not to step on his toes in the future. Then he couldn't help but sigh. If only Hermione would come around as well. He really missed her and though he hoped he had found the solution with the pensieve-idea, he could never be certain.

It was with those things on his mind that he finally fell back asleep.

* * *

Harry had scheduled the first DA for the beginners group that Wednesday. Although he knew how many people had been interested, he was still a little surprised at seeing the new group in its whole.

One by one, they entered the Room of Requirement, looking around curiously and awed. Some of them as young as second years (they had decided not to invite first years, lest they keep the older students behind too much) all the way up to those who were in their last year of Hogwarts. After he had made sure that everyone on his list was present, he addressed his members. "Good evening, everyone. I'm glad you could all make it tonight for your first DA meeting. Before we start, I want to explain what I hope to accomplish with you this year. This semester we are going to spend catching up with those from the Advanced group. Don't worry, when I see that you are ahead, I will invite you to join them early. We will start with basic spells and defences and move up to more complicate things, like the Patronus charm." Some appreciative murmers rose from his audience.

"Besides just spells, we will also work on physical improvement. I know that it doesn't seem important at first, but the condition of your body will have impact on your capacities as a dueler and even the levels of your magic." He explained when some people groaned. He also repeated the rules that he expected them to obey, even outside the DA and eventually introduced Neville and Ernie. "They will be taking over the practical side of today's session." he told them, "I really want to help, but I don't have enough time to lead every meeting. I will always be here and you can ask me if you can't manage something, but you have to understand that I am also a student, Quidditch Captain and the Heir to Potter House, so I will be extremely busy. The physical meetings will always be on me and as will the advanced group, that you will probably be able to join by next term. Is that okay?" he asked hesitantly, when people looked a little disappointed.

"Don't be like that." a deep voice from the left side announced. People looked around to see Richard Sky, a seventh year who was looking at them with a frown. "It's extremely generous that Potter even wants to teach at all. He is under no obligation to. If Potter trusts this people to able to teach us as well, why should we complain. We all agreed to listen to his orders, right?" everyone mumbled in agreement. "Then we should listen to this part too."

Harry felt a little overwhelmed at the massive agreement that came after this statement and smiled at Sky in thanks.

"They are all yours, Captain." And that cemented the nickname for the entire Beginners group.

And not to Harry's surprise, Neville and Ernie did brilliantly. It took Harry about fifteen minutes to explain the theory behind the Expelliarmus and basic Protego charms and about three quarters of the group had both of them mastered within the next hour and a half. In the meantime, Harry completed his Charms and Transfiguration essays, so all in all it was a very productive evening. He only had to intervene once, after half an hour and that was to take the eight seventh years apart after they all managed both of the spells early. He told them to attend the next Advanced meeting so he could see where they stood and then sent them away.

"Nice work, everyone." He congratulated his exhausted members afterwards. "And thank you, Neville and Ernie for a job well done." All the students gave them a small applause that made the boys blush. Then he handed out the fake galleons.  
"These will tell you when the next meeting will take place. Be sure not to spend it on accident. Now, the next time we will see each other will be for the physical work out. The Advanced group will be there as well, since you both start for the first time. Make sure to dress casually, your uniforms will not be practical at all. Ask a muggleborn what to wear if you are not sure. Good evening."

Every member stayed behind for a while to thank him and to shake his hand with a mumbled "Good night, Captain." before they left.

"Great job, you guys." Harry said to Neville and Ernie after they all had gone. "That was some amazing teaching I saw over there."

"Well, we were just trying to help." Ernie said shyly.

"No need to be modest." Harry smiled. "I'm serious. Almost all of them got the spells already."

"But they were the easy ones." Neville protested.

"And there were some very young members right here, most of whom mastered the spells as well." Harry said sternly. "Don't beat yourself down, Neville. You did great."

Then he turned to Ernie. "Let's walk you down to your common room. I meant what I said about not walking alone."

The boy smiled in thanks, but then seemed to realise something. "But, Harry, I'm not sure. I mean, isn't the common room supposed to be... well, secret?"

Harry laughed wholeheartedly. "Perhaps. But I already know where it is, so it doesn't really make a difference, now does it?"

Ernie looked stunned. "How would you know?"

The Potter Heir winked playfully. "I have my ways." he smiled. "Now come on, we don't want to break curfew."

**Happy Easter!**

**I can't believe that this is Chapter 11 already. I know that I promised you the Wizengamot meeting, but all this stuff came up and eventually I thought it best to postpone it, rather than rush through. **

**I know that this chapter was mostly creating expectations for future happenings, but I just had to get these things in. Otherwise it would feel unnatural, you know?**

**I hope that the Beginners DA was to your liking? What did you think of the Death Eater's raid. Please let me know. **

**Review! It makes me very happy and I tend to write more when I'm happy, if you get what I mean ^^.**

**I want to thank all the people who are reviewing as a guest. I usually reply to every seperate review, but I can't do that with guest reviews.**

**Next chapter: Wizengamot. Definitely! And meeting with the Mr. Jenkins (the solicitor).**

**Sincerely  
Dolceconbrio**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12. The Wizengamot**

Thursday and Friday went by in the blink of an eye and before Harry realised it, it was Friday evening already and he was supposed to leave for the Ministry in just a short half hour.  
"Are you sure that you've got everything?" Hermione urged for the last time when Harry came down his dorm's staircase.

"I'm sure, Hermione." Harry smiled, patting his shrunken bag in the front pocket of his Hogwarts uniform. It contained his official Wizengamot Robes with the Black Family crest on them, a change of clothes to wear underneath and the file with information that he needed to explain his plans.  
For the meeting with his solicitor he didn't really need anything, but he was still planning to bring his school bag to have some extra parchment and quills around, should it be necessary.

"Well, good luck then." Ron said uncomfortably. Neville just smiled in encouragement. "You'll do fine, you have done all your preparation. You know that."

Harry nodded and swallowed, hoping despite himself that it would lessen his nerves somewhat. Then he squared his shoulders and picked up his bag. "See you all later." he said with a cheery wave, the common room yelling some goodbyes at him.

Neville was the only one to come with him down the stairs. Harry would have preferred to go alone, but he could hardly force the entire DA to go around in pairs, to break his own rule immediately after.

"Mr. Potter, right on time." Professor McGonagall smiled as they entered her office. "I'm sure that the Headmaster let you know that you could use my floo?"

"He did, Professor. Thank you for letting me." Harry said politely.

"No problem at all, Mr. Potter." Her eyes had a steely glint in them, "I would like to see that monster of a woman punished. How dare she hurt my students!"

Harry couldn't resist to smile at the protectiveness of the woman. Umbridge had stepped on the toes of a lioness. No good could come of that.

"Professor, could you perhaps bring Neville back to the common room after I left? I would rather not let him walk through the corridors alone." He said, ignoring Neville's embarrassed protests.

McGonagall seemed confused. "Whatever for, Mr. Potter? Surely, Mr. Longbottom is responsible enough to get back to the Tower on his own?"

"I do not want to accuse anyone of anything," Harry started, "But I have noticed the looks in the eyes of some students lately, and I'm afraid that they are up to something. Neville is a good friend of mine and I don't want him to risk things for me." he said firmly.

"If you feel that way, I will of course walk with him." The Transfiguration Professor said, nodding in Neville's direction.

"Thank you. I truly appreciate it." Harry said, "Then I will leave now, if you don't mind?"

Professor McGonagall offered him the flower pot that contained her floo powder and he threw some in the fire place.

Green flames burst from it, indicating that he could step in.  
"Ministry of Magic, London." Harry announced confidently, before he was transported away.

"Good evening, Heir Potter." a man laughed, helping him up.  
"Evening, Mr. Jenkins." Harry said, dusting the soot of his robes in an attempt to regain some dignity. Although, by the looks of the solicitor in front of him, he was failing miserably, so he gave up and simply walked with him.

"I have reserved a meeting room for our preparations." the man explained as they walked. "You will have to get your wand registered first of course."

It was a different guy that was on duty than the one Harry had met on the day of his hearing the year before. Had it only been one year? Harry mused while the little device was doing its job. It felt like a lot longer than that. He had been so naïve back then, so innocent.

Sirius had been waiting for him, he remembered.  
His next visit to the Ministry, he had skipped this process because he had wanted to save his Godfather, but he couldn't allow his thoughts to go there. He had important things to take care of now.

The man behind the desk handed him his wand back, looking a little awed as he finally recognised the boy in front of him. "H- he- here you go Heir Potter." he stammered. "And this is your badge, sir."

Harry looked at it briefly, before pinning it to his brand new Heir robes, just above his Family crest.

_Harry Potter  
Meeting with solicitor Jenkins_

"Thank you." Harry answered, nodding at the receptionist who looked close to fainting. Then he turned to Mr. Jenkins again. "Shall we?" he invited.

"Of course, Heir Potter.

They did not speak during their walk to the elevator, nor while going up to the fifth floor, where Mr. Jenkins opened one of many similar doors for him.

It wasn't very special, it resembled one of the antechambers off the Great Hall at Hogwarts. It contained a table with four chairs and there was a fireplace in the corner, with two more comfortable armchairs in front of it.

Harry took a seat in one of them and looked questionably at his solicitor.

"I paid extra for a meeting room with a fireplace." He explained. "I thought it would be easier for you to make it to the Wizengamot meeting this way.

While Harry had to admit that it was a good idea, he had one more question. "But wouldn't that completely defeat the purpose of having all the fireplaces in the Atrium?" he asked. "They could easily come in without being noticed if they used this floo, couldn't they?"

"It's outgoing only." Mr. Jenkins explained patiently. "Now if you're ready?"

"Of course." Harry said with a blush.

"I understand that you have a meeting with the Ministry on your complaint against Madam Umbridge? Then everything is going according to plan. Do you have any questions?"

"How much should I tell them?" Harry asked hesitantly, "Should I just tell them the entire story, explaining how exactly I found out that she is a toad? Or just give them a list of what she did to me and then wait until they ask questions?"

The man seemed to think on the matter and then answered, a smirk on his face, "I think it would be beneficial to be the innocent schoolboy for this meeting."

"What do you mean?" Harry said, confused. "I thought I would need my influence for this?"

"Oh, you do. But they are going to find out everything by theirselves. Listen, this is what you should do."

Albus Dumbledore entered the Wizengamot meeting room. He always liked to be the first one there on these occasions. It was rather nice to be able to chat with the other members as they came in before the start of the actual meeting. This time he hoped that Lord Black would be early as well. He had considered briefly to tamper with the time on the man's invitation, but had eventually decided against it. It wouldn't do to make a bad first impression after all.

Unfortunately for him, almost everyone had arrived before the man came in.  
He was a rather imposing figure, with long black hair that was braided in an intricate, old styled pattern. His eyes were a lively green that were somehow even more brilliant than Harry Potter's. He strode in a confident manner, his plum coloured Wizengamot robes waving off his body as if someone had charmed them to float that way, rather than Severus's robusque billowing and somehow even more impressive.

As the man sat down with a cat-like grace and looked his way, Dumbledore suddenly became aware that he was staring. For the first time in many years he had to suppress a blush. Instead he nodded and sent him a grandfatherly smile. They were of equal level between these walls, as it had always been.

Lord Black nodded back, but his facial expressions remained stoically under his control.

Finally everyone had arrived. Dumbledore rose gracefully to welcome the fifty-odd people that were present. "Good evening, all. Thank you for joining me on this relatively short notice." he said, his voice carrying easily across the heavy wooden table.  
"Let me first introduce to you, Lord Black, who will as of now take the seat of the Black Family."  
There was a polite exchange of nods around the table.

"Tonight we will discuss the precautions for the, what I fear will be, second Wizarding war. Since there have been a few attacks lately, I thought it prudent to have this meeting as quickly as possible."

Murmers of agreement spread through the members. To his relief, Lord Black also nodded in a determined manner.

"Without a doubt Voldemort-" there was a collective shiver through the other members of the Wizengamot. A shiver, which he noticed, wasn't shared by Lord Black. The man continued to be a mystery. "- will try to infiltrate the Ministry. We have to take precautions against this. Does anyone have any suggestions?"

It remained silent for a moment as they thought about it.

"Isn't it well known that Death Eaters have the Dark Mark on their arm?" Lord Gryffiths asked, "Can't we order a mandatory inspection of all Ministry employees?"

"That might be only a partial solution." Lady Maybell warned, "If He-who-must-not-be-named only marks them after our inspection, or even not at all, it would not help us."

"Still, it is worth a try, isn't it?" his old friend, Elphias Doge argumented. "Those who are already marked wouldn't be able to get rid of it, just for the sake of an inspection."

"I don't think it is a good idea." an unfamiliar voice stated bluntly.

Every head turned towards Lord Black.

"And why not, would you think, Lord Black?" Dumbledore asked carefully.

"Because the Death Eater in question could simply obliviate the inspector if he turned out to bear the Mark, or worse Imperio them, thus even adding on the number of spies that Voldemort already has."

Everyone shivered in reaction.

"Then what would you suggest?" Lord Gryffiths asked, as if offended that his idea was being criticised.

"An oath of loyalty or a truth serum." the man answered.

A wave of protest emerged. "That would take ages!" one exclaimed.  
"It would cost too much money." another argumented.

"Calm down." Albus Dumbledore said and everyone sat back down, looking a little sheepish.  
"Personally I think the idea has merit. An oath doesn't cost anything and it would assure that no one would switch sides after. Who votes in favour?"

Most of the hands raised.

"Against?"

Only a few hands came up.

"Then this motion has passed. Now, on how to formulate the oath. We have to make sure that there aren't any loopholes. I suggest we each try to come up with a solution. Owl them to me and I shall read them at the next meeting, so we can vote on them. Agreed? Very well. Up to the next subject."

They discussed some adjustments in the wards, emergency procedures at the Ministry and finally came to protection of the people.  
"We could send out flyers, warning people to be careful of who they let into their houses and on how to recognise if someone is under the influence of an Imperius curse." Elphias suggested.

"While it is not a bad idea, I hardly think that would suffice." Lady Bones retorted. "There should be a possibility to have wards raised around their houses, protecting them."

"And how who would install the wards? Ministry employees? That would cost a lot of money and if we would let them pay for themselves, only the wealthy could afford them." Marcus Farbulb said. "And besides, we could never do every house, there are too many."

"We could teach them how to do easy wards themselves." someone threw in. "Even if it were only intruder alarms, it would win them a few minutes."

"How would we teach them? Through leaflets? Lessons at the Ministry?"

The discussion went on and on and finally they agreed to teach some easy wards by offering to teach them at the Ministry.

"Does anyone have any additional ideas?" Dumbledore asked. When there didn't seem to be any reaction, he wanted to close the meeting, but then Lord Black stood up abruptly.

"Has anyone even _thought_ of the muggle population?" he asked incredulously. "I was waiting for someone to bring that up, but you didn't even mention them in passing. How will we cover this up? What can we do when Voldemort attacks a muggle village? He is almost certain to use dementors, to create havoc with spells in broad daylight. Can't we take precautions? Protect them?"

"I don't see how." Lord Nott said bluntly, "If we tell them to be carefull, they wouldn't know why and we can hardly start casting wards around every muggle house without them noticing."

"If every wizarding family with muggle neighbours takes care of a few houses we would be far already." Lord Black retorted.

He bent over to get some documents from a bag he'd brought. He passed around some pieces of paper that appeared to be newspaper clippings from a muggle paper.

"Collapsing buildings, countless gass leaks, more terrorists than ever. All those things were printed during the last war. Don't you think that the muggles would see a sudden increase of all these things.  
No, forget seeing, they will die. Lots of them will die."

Only then Dumbledore saw how young Lord Black still was. He couldn't be much older than seventeen, yet he spoke with the conviction of an experienced politician. Where did this young man come from? Dumbledore couldn't help but being ashamed of forgetting the muggles, but what could they do?

"There isn't anything we can do." Lord Black said suddenly. Every head turned to stare. "It's true. We can't protect the entire world, but the least we can do is think about them. We have to try and stop each attack from Voldemort as soon as it starts, but apart from encouraging our people to watch out and help the muggles, there aren't any precautions we can take."

With those words he stood up, picked up his bag and left the room. Everyone started talking at once, so Dumbledore ignored them and hurried behind the man.

"Lord Black!" he addressed the man stalking towards the elevator.

"Yes?" he said, turning around to face him.

"I just wanted to introduce myself." Dumbledore started.

The man smiled. "You don't have to. Everyone knows who you are, Chief Warlock. Would you tell me what you wanted to speak to me about?"

"Of course." he said. "Following your speech from just now, I assume I can correctly state that you do not support Voldemort?"

Lord Black nodded curtly. "That would be right."

"I was wondering if you would like to help more closely in the fight against Voldemort?" he started.

"I may not support Voldemort, Chief Warlock, but neither am I interested in joining the so-called Order of the Phoenix." the young man stated bluntly.

Startled, Dumbledore looked at him, "How do-"

"How I know is of no importance, Chief Warlock. Just remember that I won't join." Then he turned and started to walk again.

"But why not?" the Headmaster couldn't help but exclaim.

The raven haired Lord turned around again, looked him in the eye and said, "Because I do not agree with your ideals, sir. Voldemort should be stopped, because he would destroy the whole world to get what he wants. But what you want, isn't right either." He held up his hand when he saw that the older man wanted to protest. "I know that you mean well, but think about it. If you would let muggleborns enter the higher Ministry posts, they would want to change everything to become more uniform with the Muggle world. You know what came of that in the past.

They don't know enough. They would need introductory courses at Hogwarts even before they started school. They insult people and then feel betrayed when they are insulted in turn. They do not understand, Chief Warlock. They don't know our culture, not that they can be blamed, for there is almost no way for them to know. Some of them desperately want to fit in, but they don't manage to find their spot. Not in the muggle world, nor in the Wizarding one. It is cruel to offer them these positions when you know they will never change a thing."

Then, when the other man didn't react, Lord Black nodded and concluded. "Think about it, Albus Dumbledore. Do not keep making the same mistakes. I can assure you that I will not let you."

Those last words sent a chill through the old Headmaster's body. Lord Black seemed to know everything about thim that there was to know, without even having met him before.  
He knew that he wouldn't sleep well that night.

"So, how did it go?" Mr. Jenkins urged as his client came back in under an invisibility cloak.

"Just how we thought it would." the Potter Heir said, as he sat back down. "My position is out there. There is no way back."

"But this is what you wanted, isn't it? You seem a little disturbed. Did something happen?"

Harry sighed, carding his hand through his hair in a defeated gesture, "I think the true meaning of a war just sunk in. That's all."

When Harry arrived back at Hogwarts through Professor McGonagall's floo, it was very late already and to his embarrassment his Head of House had waited up for him.

"That wasn't necessary, Professor." he said softly. "I can take care of myself."

"Rubbish." the woman said, though a soft smile played around her lips, "Of course I waited for you. Now why don't we get you to the common room, it's quite late and though it's Saturday tomorrow, I doubt that your friends will wait for you to wake up on your own before asking you all about tonight's proceedings."

Harry chuckled in agreement and together they walked through the empty corridors.

"I rather like them like this." his Professor suddenly said, breaking the comfortable silence between them. "It's peaceful. You wouldn't even guess that there are things, so horrible, going on outside of the Castle."

"I know what you mean." Harry answered softly. "It's not fair. Why do people have to fight and hurt everyone around them? It would be better for everyone to just live in peace."

"It has always been that way." McGonagall said. "I doubt that it will change in the future."

They had arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady, who was snoring softly in her frame.

"Thank you for walking with me." the Potter Heir said, looking up at his Professor.

"You're welcome, Mr. Potter. It would hardly be just to let you roam the corridors on your own at night, would it?"

Harry grinned in response, then he turned to the portrait. "Lady Rose? Lady Rose, would you please wake up?"

"Who -? Oh, Heir Potter, deary. What are you doing up this late? Wandering the corridors again?"

McGonagall snorted softly behind them as Harry blushed at being caught.

"I just came back from the Ministry." He explained.

"Oh, that's right. The meeting with your solicitor. You will have to tell me all about it. But tomorrow, now you should get some sleep. It's late already."

"Yes, madam." Harry smiled. "Goshawks's guide to Herbology."

The portrait swung open. "Hermione set the password." he said in explanation. He heard a soft chuckle behind him. "At least Neville can remember it now." he grinned. Then he climbed through before he could hear a whole hearted laugh from his Head of House.

"Harry. Harry, mate, wake up!" He was awoken roughly by his best friend pulling the sheets away from his body.

"Was that truly necessary?" he asked in sleepy annoyance. "I was sleeping, you know."

"Yeah, yeah. Come on. Get up, we've been dying to know what happened yesterday."

Harry sighed. He wouldn't be getting back to sleep now anyway. "Fine. Meet me in the Room of Requirement in fifteen minutes."

Ron nodded eagerly before he left the dorm to tell the others.

"So, tell us about yesterday." Hermione urged him as they sat in the Room of Requirement. Harry had called Kreacher and asked him to bring some breakfast up. The elf had obeyed with joy.

"What do you want to know?" he asked innocently.

"Well, everything of course!" she exclaimed. "What did your solicitor say and how did the Wizengamot meeting go? And-?"

Harry laughed and started to give them a summary of yesterday's proceedings.

"It went quite well then?" Neville concluded after he had finished. "About just like you expected, I mean." He corrected himself after he saw Harry's disturbed look.

"I just think it's terrible that we can't do more!" Ron sighed.

"I know, especially for the parents of muggleborns, who know exactly what is going on, but can't defend theirselves." Hermione mumbled, no doubt thinking of her own parents.

"I'm definitely including some wards in the DA classes." Harry decided. "Not all of them are too complicated, so we should manage the easy ones. I'm not going to sit around and watch families being torn apart." the conviction was evident in his voice. His friends smiled at his attitude, but kept silent.

"Do you have any more plans for this weekend?" Hermione asked, after they had finished their breakfast and Kreacher had taken away the plates and leftovers.

"Yes, actually. I'm meeting Draco this afternoon. He wrote to me to say that he had made his choice and wanted to meet again to discuss it with me." Harry replied. He did not mention anything about Draco's insights on the fight Hermione and he had had earlier. He would rather not set her off again. He had to admit that he had been touched by the admitted emotion of the Slytherin Prince. He hadn't been sure that the boy was still salvagable, but there appeared to be hope. He would know in just a few hours.

**Well, that would be a little longer for you guys. Sorry, this felt like the best place to stop here.**

**Errm, I am SO sorry for waiting this long before updating. I was... stuck somehow. I'm not sure that I'm completely happy with this chapter, though. Let me know what you think.**

**I didn't have the opportunity to answer individual reviews this time due to a very busy schedule at Uni, but I'll try to do that again in the future. Thank you if you did review! Please do so again, it really helps me and it makes me incredibly happy, even if you have some negative remarks.**

**Coming up: meeting Draco and Quidditch tryouts. Hope to see you then!**

**Sincerely  
Dolceconbrio**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13. Draco's choice**

If asked, he would never admit it, but Harry was incredibly nervous as he sat in the Three Broomsticks, waiting for Draco to join him.  
He had come early on purpose, to have some time to calm down and settle his image as Lord Black before having to confront the boy that could be family in one hour.  
His instincts said that the Malfoy Heir would make the right choice, that he would not want to have anything to do with the vile monster that his father called Master, but his nerves were making him doubt.

If Draco chose Voldemort, Harry would not be able to help him in any way. That scared him.  
Through the boy's letters he had come to care for him like he would for a little brother.  
The fact that Draco actually was a few months older than he, did not change that. And though he knew that some of these paternal feelings were inspired by the Black Family Spirits, he still cared.

The sound of the door opening woke him from his thoughts. It was Draco.  
The boy seemed as least as nervous as he himself felt, though he didn't manage to hide it quite as well as he seemed to think.

"Lord Black." the Malfoy Heir greeted respectfully as he reached the private booth, his words accompanied by a graceful bow. "Thank you for seeing me, sir."

"Draco. But of course. Please sit down." Harry invited, gesturing to the seat in front of him.  
"How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, thank you." Draco sat across from him stiffly.

"How did you experience your time of neutrality. You mentioned some of it in your letters, of course. But what was your overall experience?"

The blonde relaxed a bit as he realised that they would be talking for a while before reaching the actual goal of the meeting.

"I rather enjoyed it actually. It was quite nice that the lower years didn't squirm to get away from me. They learned quite fast that I was not going to curse them straight away." he chuckled.

Harry supressed a smile. He had noticed that. "And what happened after you went back to your normal behaviour?"

Draco squeezed his hands uncomfortably. "I errm, I did not go back to my old behaviour, sir."

The raven haired Lord merely raised one eyebrow in silent question.

"I preferred this over my old attitude, sir. It is nice to be respected, instead of feared."

Lord Black actually smiled this time. "I'm glad to hear that." he said warmly. "Does that mean that you have come to a decision?"

And there the tension was again.

"I think so, Lord Black." the Malfoy Heir said, trying to appear nonchalant by smoothing out a few invisible crinkles in his silk robe.

Harry just waited for him to give the answer to the real question.

"If- If it's alright with you sir, I would like to give you my oath."

It took all Harry's will power not to jump for joy in celebration. Instead, he gave the boy across from him an approving smile, not held back in any way.  
"You do not know how happy I am to hear you say that, Draco."

He then rose slowly, extending his hand to the blonde. Draco swallowed nervously, but assumed a kneeling position and held still as Lord Black settled a hand on top of his head. He did not seem worried about anyone noticing their actions, Harry wondered if he had felt the protection of his privacy wards.  
It took quite a powerful wizard to sense magic.

Harry nodded to himself before starting the ancient ritual that would confirm the Family bond between him and Draco.  
"Do you, Draconis Lucius Malfoy, son of Lucius Abraxas Malfoy and Narcissa Isadora Malfoy, née Black accept your lineage as a member of the Black Family?"

The kneeling boy answered softly, his voice quivered, but sounded determined "I do."  
A tendril of pure white light shot out of the Black Lord ring that rested upon his silken pale blonde hair and started to wrap around Draco's head.

"Do you promise to uphold its Values, respect the duties of the Family and embrace the magic that comes with it?"

"I do." The boy stated a little more steady.  
A second string of magic joined the first and wrapped around his wand arm.

"Do you pledge your support to the Family members and reverence to the Spirits?"

"I do." The third ribbon of light surrounded the blonde's chest, pulsing over his heart, perfectly in sinc with the his quickened heart beat.

"Do you recognise me as the Family Lord of the Ancient and Noble House of Black and submit to my control, knowing that I shall lead and protect you to the best of my abilities?"

"I do." Draco's eyes sparkled in surprise as he recognised the unconventional addition to the traditional vows. A ray of light connected the wand arms of the two participants, signifying the immediate control and responsibility.

"Then may the Black Spirits welcome you in the Family, as I do."

Harry felt a rush of magic covering the two of them like a blanket, recognising the two figures as Blacks. Then all the lights sank into the skin of the two Blacks and faded.

A spark lit up in Harry's veins, spinning a thread of magic that added to those that were already there, representing the wards of Black properties and heirlooms. This one was pulsing however. Curious, he followed it and smiled as he found Draco on the other end. He was certain the boy could feel him as well, though not as defined.

"Thank you." Draco whispered, dropping his Malfoy mask for the first time in his presence, to reveal a face that was much younger and more innocent.

"We are Family." Harry smiled in return. He noticed that the boy in front of him was burning with questions. "Please sit down and ask away. I'm certain that there are some things that are not yet clear."

Draco sat down gratefully. "What should I call you, sir?"

So he had felt it too. The moment the bond had formed, Harry had started to think of Draco as a son, a protected Family member, but also felt how he demanded respect. Tradition required some form of a respectual adress, one thing he hadn't thought about just yet.  
"Do you perhaps have any suggestions?" he asked.

"Well the traditional title would be 'my lord', but I don't think that would fit, sir. And neither would 'Father', in this case."

Harry nodded in agreement. He detested 'my lord' for obvious reasons and 'father' would be confusing because of the fact that Draco already had one. Uncle perhaps? He had to supress a shiver at that, it would not do to be reminded of Uncle Vernon every time Draco called him that. But the boy didn't seem to have thought that far anyway.

"What about Magister?" he suggested.

Harry hesitated, "Are you certain you would like that?" It was the Latin word for Master. He did not want Draco to feel uncomfortable calling him that.

Draco nodded without hesitation. He scuffled his feet for a moment and then explained. "I used to love this story..."

"Yes?" Harry said, urging him to continue.

"Mother would read it to me when I was little. There was this young boy who is taught by, you could say, a Professor of some sort." He trailed off in embarassment.

Lord Black smiled softly. "And the boy would call his respected tutor 'Magister', am I right?"

Draco nodded hesitantly, seeming to regret to have brought it up.

"I think I like it, if you put it that way. And I thank you for thinking of me in that manner, Catulo." He said softly. Then he blinked and frowned.

"What does it mean, sir?" Draco asked, still a little apprehensive, but Harry could see his normal confidence coming back.

"It is Latin as well. It means 'young one'." He explained, "I'm just wondering where it came from. I knew the word, of course, but I did not exactly intend to use it. It is quite fitting though."

Draco chuckled. "It must be the new bond, sir." He then added. "I like it too."

"Great then, now that we have that minor problem out of the way, I assume that you will want to know what to do about Voldemort, am I right?"

Draco stiffened at the name, but agreed softly.

"You will obviously not be going back there." He instructed, Draco breathed a sigh of relief. "I do not want you in harm's way, Catulo. I assume that your father will be notified of that fact, though. He will almost certainly not be happy with it. What do you think he will do?"

Draco swallowed at the thought. "He- he will try to force me and if I keep disobeying, he will probably disown me."

"I thought so." Lord Black said, giving a comforting smile. "What about your Mother?"

"She wants me safe, but she will stay with Father. She loves him and she is bound to him through their marriage contract."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "I would be able to nullify that contract if she would prefer to be with you."

Draco shook his head sadly. "She wouldn't want that. She wishes to keep an eye on Aunt Bellatrix as well, she won't be able to do that if she is no longer on Voldemort's side. As long as she is certain that I'm safe, she will be alright. She won't be happy on this side."

"I see. What will happen at Hogwarts after you are disowned?" Harry asked, fearing the answer.

"They will no longer respect me in Slytherin, seeing as I lost my title. The Death Eater children will try to kidnap me or even kill me." the boy's voice trembled as he explained.

"I will assure you that I won't let that happen." Harry stated, unaware of the fact that his magic had already started to swirl around him, reacting to his protecting thoughts.  
And about losing your title, you won't need to fear that part. I am an only child, my parents are dead and I don't have any children of my own as of now. I would be honered to have you as my Heir the moment you lose your other title." he spoke fiercely, Draco would not be able to doubt his words. He knew what it was like to lose your Family and he would not let the same happen to his ward.

Draco looked up at him in surprise. "You- you would do that, sir?"

"Of course. I would give it to you now if I could risk it. But you know about the risks of being a double Heir. I won't take any chances." He checked his clock, it was getting late. He would need to get back to the castle soon if he didn't want his absence to be noticed.

"I could denounce my Family name myself." Draco said hesitantly. "Then I could accept the Black Heir title now." Harry could see that it was a hard thing to say. He couldn't even imagine how hard it would be to do that.

"No." he said softly. "I don't want you to do that." He took the black velvet box out of his inner robe pocket and put it on the table. "You just wait until your Father makes his decision. You will only have to put on the ring to accept, so you won't be without a title for longer than a few minutes."

He reached to put his hand on top of Draco's. "Please, carry it with you at all times. You have never known the feeling of being without a Family. It is not a nice one. You will want to put that ring on immediately." he urged.

Draco paled, but nodded in understanding.

"It is a portkey as well. If you ever find yourself in danger, just rub the stone and say 'Home'. It will take you to one of the Black properties. Call for Kreacher if you need anything. He will be able to help you."

"I will." it seemed that Draco was finally starting to realise what the impact of his decision was.

"I would advise you to call for one of your Elves when you are alone tonight. Have them transport the belongings you don't want to lose to Hogwarts. I will send Kreacher to pick them up tomorrow morning." Then he took a deep breath. "If any of your friends are looking for a way out, anyone, and you believe they are sincere, I will offer them protection. Tell them that it will not be likely that a neutral side will be accepted in this war. Voldemort is going for the 'If you are not with me, you are against me' method. They will need to chose a side." He looked Draco straight in the eyes. "My offer stands for everyone, no matter their age."

He saw the boy understood, "Do you mean-?"

"Hush, don't say the name. It is not safe enough for that here. Archimedes will find youif you have further questions, just write me a letter."

"One last thing, Catulo. If you ever need a place to hide quickly at Hogwarts, for what ever reason, any portrait with a snake will help you out. Show your Black Heir ring and tell them that you are under my protection."

His ward looked up at him in question.

"The guardian of the portrait will explain it to you when it is needed." his eyes sparkled with amusement, "Don't use it to skip classes. I would have to get angry with you and I'm not sure I can do that yet."

Draco smirked. Harry could see that he was okay now. He checked his watch again.

"I really need to go now. You know how to contact me." He rose gracefully and dropped the privacy wards. "Oh, and Draco? Be safe."

* * *

Harry stood on the Quidditch Pitch, his broom in hand, ready to start the tryouts. A large crowd had assembled, too large in fact, to consist only of candidates. Or only Gryffindors for that matter. "Will everyone that is not here to try out for the Gryffindor Team, please leave?" he asked, his voice easily carrying across the field.

He grumbled to himself as only a few people left. Ron and Ginny were looking at him in amusement.

"That means that only Gryffindors should be here!" he added hopefully. But like he had expected, not many people left now either.

Ron put his hand on his shoulder and grinned. "Leave it to me. Just look threatening for me."

The redhead cast a sonorus at his own throat and yelled; "Oi, listen to the Captain, if you know what's good for you."

That had the instant reaction of people running for the Castle. In less than a few minutes, only a small amount had stayed. Harry's mouth fell open as he looked at Ron in question.

His best friend shrugged. "A lot of them are in the DA. They just needed that little extra push." He grinned.

"Right." Harry said weakly. Then he focused on the task at hand.

"I want everyone in the air. Right now!"

It took him a few hours, but in the end he was very happy with his team. He had Demelza Robins, Katie Bell and Ginny Weasley for chasers, with a very proud Dean Thomas as a reserve. And to his own relief, Ron had been the best keeper, so he was on the team again as well. Harry did not want to think about what could have happened if someone had flown better than Ron. The McLaggen Heir had come close, but he had been ruled out when Harry had tested the candidates for teamplay. To be frank, the Potter Heir was happy that he hadn't made it. He had never much liked the guy.

* * *

Draco sat in a chair in his Godfather's office. He had promised to tell him how the meeting with Lord Black had gone and though he was happy about his decision, he feared Severus' reaction. He had always kept his opinion in high esteem and he was afraid the man would be disappointed by the choice he had made. It did help that he knew the man was a spy though, he could not have imagined losing his Godfather because of leaving the Dark Lord's service.

"Draco, you're early." he suddenly heard the smooth voice of the Potions Master remark.  
He turned to see him stand in the doorway.

"Sorry that I let myself in, sir. I just thought it would be better not to attract any attention by waiting outside." he said, a little faster than he normally would have.

Severus smirked. "It doesn't matter. I'm happy that you remembered to stop by." he walked over to his chair and sat down. Then he looked at Draco expectantly. "Well? Are you not going to tell me what you decided?"

The blonde swallowed. "I'm with Lord Black." he then gushed out, watching his Godfather's reaction shrewdly.

It was barely visible, just a small spark of relief flooded through the man's eyes before they became dull and black once more. "Very well, Draco. Would you mind sharing with me what he said?"

"He said that he was happy I didn't join the Dark Lord." he hesitated for a moment before adding, "And that he would protect me."

"That's all?" Severus raised an eyebrow.

Draco squirmed uncomfortably. How to ask? "Not really." he mumbled.

"Speak up, Draco, either you say something or you remain silent." his Godfather said sternly, though his relaxed posture betrayed that he wasn't truly angry.

"I said, not really." He repeated. Then he waited for a moment, looking for the right words. "He said that he would offer the same to others whom I trusted." he avoided to look up. "He was referring to you, Godfather, I'm sure of it."

When he did not hear any reaction, he looked up through his eye lashes uncertainly.

Severus seemed to be deep in thought, mumbling to himself. Even though he had just told Draco not to do that, the boy thought to himself and snorted inwardly. Hypocrite. But what would the man decide? Would he be willing to give up his position as a spy? Maybe even his spot in the Castle?

"Let me get back to you on that, Draco." his Godfather suddenly said, breaking the silence. "This requires a lot of thinking. Do you deem it possible I could meet with him myself?"

"I think so. I would have to ask him to be certain." Draco admitted.

Severus looked at him, "How long would it take to get an answer?"

He shook his head. "I'm not really sure. He has never actually replied to me. I could send the message now, if you'd like. Perhaps you could write him a letter?" He offered.

Severus nodded curtly and grabbed a roll of parchment and his favourite quill. He jotted down a few lines, then thought for a while before finishing it. "Draco, if you would please prepare my wax for me?"

The blonde reached for the stick of red sealing wax and held it over the flame of a candle. When he felt it was soft enough, he passed it to his Godfather, who took it without looking up.

Draco always loved to watch Severus seal his letters. There was a familiarity about it, those practiced movements, that was fascinating.

The Potions Master touched the wax to the scroll of parchment, sealing the edge of it to the body and then quickly pressed his Prince ring into it, leaving the imprint of the Family crest.

"Well." he snapped at Draco. "How are you sending it?"

The Malfoy Heir rolled his eyes and went to open the window. A moment later a stern looking owl with the Black Family crest around its leg flew inside, landed on Draco's shoulder and held out its empty leg, looking quite haughtily.

Draco threw his stunned Godfather a smug look. "He always knows when I want to send a message." he drawled. "Now did you want to send that, or not?"

Severus regained his wit and glared, his twitching lip giving away his amusement. "Cheeky brat." he stated, but he handed Draco the scroll nontheless.

"Take this to Lord Black for me, okay Archimedes?" he asked, attaching the letter to the owl's leg. It hooted affirmatively and took off.

"Well, Draco, I think you should head back to your dorm. Curfew is-" his Godfather broke off his sentence abruptly as he grabbed his left arm and hissed in pain.

"Are you alright? Is he calling?" the blonde asked worriedly.

Severus nodded tensely as he hurried to grab his Death Eater robes and mask. Then he seemed to realise something. "You are marked as well. Why are you not in pain?"

Draco bared his left fore arm in response, its skin was pale as marble and unblemished.

"But, how? I was there when-?" It was obvious that Severus was in pain, seeing as he could not finish his sentence. Normally he was the epitome of composure.

"Lord Black took care of it." Draco replied curtly. His Godfather's eyes widened and he could see that he was about to ask more questions, but the Malfoy Heir cut him short. "You should not keep Him waiting. I will explain later."

It seemed like the man wanted to argue, but then doubled over as the pain in his arm intensified. "You better." he answered, gritting his teeth together.

Then he stalked over to the fire place and disappeared in a swearl of green flames.

**End of Chapter 13. I hope you liked it. This was the hardest chapter to write so far, seeing as it has an important subject. I really did not want to mess this one up.**

**Tell me what you think of it, please! It's always difficult to paint a more submissive Draco, as he normally is annoyingly independent when we see him in the original books. Scenes with Draco's authority figures are rarely displayed, so I had to guess his behaviour. It seemed fitting for him to be a little nervous. His entire future is on the line here.**

**I appreciate it that you are still reading, you have no idea how much that means to me, really. **

**Next chapter: DA and Meeting with Ministry Officials. Umbridge, watch out. Harry Potter is out for revenge.**

**Review! It makes my day :)**

**Sincerely  
Dolceconbrio**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14. Paint and Snape**

Harry sat in his usual spot at breakfast that Monday. It seemed surreal that his weekend had been filled with these unusual things, he thought to himself, as he listened to the chaotic noises of still sleepy children in the Great Hall.  
Just days before he had been in his first Wizengamot meeting where he had made his intentions clear, then the next day he had gained a ward. His gaze swept to Draco Malfoy who was sitting at the Slytherin table.  
He was conversing avidly and Harry could see clearly, in a way that he had not been able to before his Pureblood training this summer, how everything there almost revolved around the boy.

He only hoped that wouldn't change too much. Some of his plans were based on Draco's position after all, and though he knew the blond's reputation would experience a hit when he lost his position as the scion of the Malfoy Family, he was also certain that his own name would help with that.

He had had his doubts at first, of course. After all, the boy had been his sworn enemy since the moment they had met. Could he just forget about that and name that same boy his Heir?  
Grandmother had helped with that, though. She had opened his eyes for the way Draco had probably been raised, about how Slytherin hierarchy worked and now it was painfully obvious how he himself had been the instigator of the entire conflict.

He had refused to shake his hand that first day on the Hogwarts express, refused to even think about it. If only he had been informed of the Pureblood Wizarding Ways back then, he would have known the brutal insult he had thrown at the Malfoy Heir by not even considering it.

He had to be honest, though. Draco was the perfect Heir. He was of Black blood, had been raised for the position and soon wouldn't have another Family to turn to, no matter how sorry Harry felt about being the cause of it.  
That, combined with the paternal feelings he now had for the boy, made him very happy about Draco's choice.

He noticed how the Black Family owl he had sent back to Draco with his reply to Snape swept in and delivered his letter.  
The Malfoy Heir opened the scroll addressed to him, read it quickly and gave his Godfather at the Head table a subtle nod. Snape nodded back and returned to his breakfast.

Harry had consented to meeting the Potions Master that Friday in his usual booth at the Three Broomsticks. Draco would no doubt convey the message later, where no curious ears could overhear.

"Harry, mate!" Ron's loud voice broke his ponderings.

He smiled weakly, "Sorry, Ron. Spaced out for a moment. What did you say?"

"I asked when you were planning to do that second DA meeting? The physical one?"

Ron repeated in a low tone of voice.

"Right. I was thinking tonight actually. I sent the message with the Galleons days ago, didn't you notice?"

Ron smiled sheepishly. "I might have- err- left it in my other robe?"

Hermione smiled victoriously. "Told you so." she grinned.

Harry shook his head in amusement. Only Ron would leave something that important behind.

"So, what are you going to have us do?" Neville asked, somewhat nervously. His coordination had improved lots, but he still felt a little clumsy from time to time. It didn't just disappear over night after all.

The raven haired teen smirked evilly, but didn't say anything.

"Harry." Ron whined, "You have to tell us. We are your friends, remember?"

The Potter Heir laughed, "I'm not going to tell you. You can ask all you want to, it won't change my mind."

"But isn't there supposed to be some advantage in being your best mate?" he redhead tried.

Harry smirked devilishly. "Are you sure you want to pull that card?"

Ron, stuffing his face with more breakfast, had not seen the look on his face. Otherwise he probably would have stopped fishing for information there and then. The bacon was too occupying though, so he did continue. "Yes, I'm sure. Oh, come on, Harry. I won't tell anyone, honest!"

* * *

"Hi, everyone. Welcome to the first physical exercise DA." Harry announced as they stood in the Room of Requirement that evening. "I'm glad that everyone made it tonight. This is our full group, so please satisfy your curiosity now and look around to see who's in it, so we can start with the exercises."

He waited for a moment and after everyone had focused on him again, he closed his eyes for a moment and a door appeared. "Please follow me."

He heard the gasps of the students behind him as they took in the landscape. The Room had truly outdone itself, he thought to himself. They were standing in a park of sorts. It consisted of a soft meadow that was surrounded by a circular path, wide enough for two people to walk side by side comfortably. The door disappeared as soon as the last girl had entered and Harry turned towards the group.  
"I'm quite aware that most of you are unfamiliar with physical exercise, which is why we will start easy. We're going to run 5 laps around the meadow. Please take your time. When you're done, you can simply go and wait in the meadow."

People groaned and looked up in dismay. "Oh, come on. That's not going to help you." Harry said lightly and started running. "Why aren't you following me?" he asked innocently. "Would you prefer 10 laps?"

He smirked as everyone started running at once.

Maybe the condition of wizarding teens was even worse than those of muggle children, Harry thought to himself as he stood, alone, in the middle of the meadow. His students, as he caught himself calling them frequently, strolled down towards him, looking absolutely exhausted, and made to sit down before Harry stopped them.

"Don't sit down just yet." He warned, ignoring the protests of the two Ravenclaws, "You'll have a terrible muscle ache in the morning if you do that. You should stretch first."

He then proceeded to show them exactly how to do that.

A short while afterwards everyone sat down in a circle around him.

"Right." he announced, "We're going to start the actual exercises now. I will need a volunteer."

Everyone seemed to shrink away, trying their best to sink through the ground so they wouldn't be noticed.

Harry smirked. "I'm sure my best friend will help me out."

Ron's eyes widened as he saw where this was going. Everyone snickered softly as the redhead stood awkwardly.

Harry closed his eyes for a moment and trees and bushes popped up in the meadow, leaving a curvy pathway in the center.

"In a moment, Ron here, is going to run down the path. His goal will be to reach the other end as fast as possible. Meanwhile, we will be hiding in the bushes around him, shooting a colour bullet spell at him."

Ron paled considerably.

"Ron will try not to get hit. He can use every shield spell he wants. This will be an exercise in avoiding to get hit while running for cover and for us it will help us aim at a moving target. Any questions?"

Nobody reacted. "Great then. The incantation you will need is _Pigmento_. Everyone can go and hide now. You will have to find a spot where you have a clear view of the path, while being covered somewhat. You have half a minute."

Everyone scrambled to get up and hide. The younger ones had an enthusiastic grin on their faces.

Harry timed thirty seconds on his watch and shot out piercing noise.

Ron started to run reluctantly.

This was quite funny, Harry thought to himself as he reached the other side of the path. Ron was now brightly coloured. There didn't seem to be any spot on him that wasn't covered in magical paint. He couldn't help himself, he looked so ridiculous. Harry started to laugh.

It didn't take too long before everyone had come out of their hiding places, grinning merrily at Ron's predicament.

"Alright." Harry said, trying to regain his composure. "Can anyone tell me what he could have done differently?"

A second year Hufflepuff raised her hand timidly. "He could have used reflecting shields. We would have had to duck for cover and he would have been hit less often."

Harry nodded, smiling in praise. "Very good, Maya." he said. "We will be covering reflecting shields in the next Beginner's DA. Anything else?"

"Disillusionment spells." Garrick Newbourne, a sixth year Slytherin, smirked. "We would not have seen him for a while."

"Very nice." Harry said.

"He could have transfigured something to protect him like a shield." someone offered.

"Or levitated something in the way of a spell."

"Alright, alright." Ron murmered grumpily, "I get it. I'll do better next time."

Harry laughed. "Now who's next?"

The Potter Heir had to admit that he was impressed after seeing all his students run the pathway. No one was hit as often as Ron has been, though that could be excused by him missing the explanation. Especially Sarah Kempston, a small Ravenclaw first year, had impressed him. She had darted around the spells as if she had been doing nothing else her entire life and even though she had not cast a single shield spell, she had been hit the least of the entire group.

"Ballet." she answered with a shy shrug after he had asked her how she had done it. "I'm muggleborn."

"Okay, everyone, look over here for a moment." He yelled when everyone was sitting in the small meadow once more, giggling at their paint splattered friends.

"Before leaving, I'll teach you one more spell. _Tergeo._" He incanted, sweeping his wand over his body, clearing it of the paint that he had been hit with during his own run."

"_Tergeo._" Everyone repeated simultaneously. It didn't take more than a few tries for everyone to succeed.

Harry checked the Marauder's map discreetly and after he had established that no one was around, he opened the door and let everyone leave.

"Don't be too loud." He warned them. "It's not curfew yet, but you don't want to attract too much attention to being out with this entire group together. I'll let you know through the Galleon when the next meeting will be."

* * *

The end of the week had finally come. The normal, boring classes had been surprisingly tiring and Harry was happy that the weekend was near.  
Only, he couldn't simply relax and do nothing. He had a meeting scheduled with Snape that evening and tomorrow the Ministry officials would be taking his statement about the Umbridge case. Ironically he was more nervous about meeting his sour Potions teacher. He might not really like the man, he had to admit that he was sharp, maybe even smart enough to find out his true identity.

So he found himself sitting in his usual booth at The Three Broomsticks, privacy and silencing charms were already cast and he was sipping on a cold butterbeer to sooth his nerves.

Exactly on time the door opened and Snape, dressed in his usual black teaching robes swept in, holding a brief conversation with Rosmerta behind the bar, before looking in his direction.

The man strode straight to his booth and Harry rose confidently to greet him.

"Good evening, Professor Snape." He welcomed the man, his voice neutral and, thankfully, devoid of the nerves he was feeling. Thank Merlin for Grandmother's lessons.

The Potions Master gave him a curt bow. "Lord Black."

Harry felt strange as the man addressed him without the usual hateful glare and snappy comments. He was the one with power here, but, as opposed to Snape, he would not abuse his position.

"Please, sit down." he invited. "Can I offer you something to drink?"

"Firewhiskey would be nice." Snape nodded as he sat down gracefully. "I honestly don't know why I still teach. Those dunderheads will be the death of me, I swear."

Harry indulged the man and offered a small smile of amusement. "I see." he said, signalling Madam Rosmerta. They sat in a comfortable silence until the woman had delivered Snape's drink.

"Let's talk business straight away, shall we?" Harry proposed. "You asked for a meeting with me?" He was not planning to make this easier for Snape before he was certain of te man's intentions.

"I did." The other man acknowledged. "I had an interesting conversation with my Godson last weekend. I am sure you know what it was about?"

"I can imagine. I suppose he told you that he accepted my offer?"

"Indeed so." Lord Black nodded. "Did you have any questions?"

"The same night, I was summoned by the Dark Lord." Harry didn't react. He had known about that little fact. He wasn't, however, aware of what had transpired at the meeting, though he was certain Snape would tell him.

"I am aware." he replied simply.

"You may also be aware, then," Snape continued, a little impatiently, "that the Dark Lord has not yet been informed of Draco's change of loyalty. So far he is still safe."

Harry held in a sigh of relief. Sentar had notified him that there had been a summons, he had been a Dark Mark after all and though it did not hurt him when Voldemort summoned his Death Eaters, Sentar always knew. Harry had a suspicion that he would be able to serve as a focus to apparate towards him, even, but he had not yet had the opportunity to test that theory.

"That's nice, I suppose." He allowed, "But why did you want to see me?"

"This delay will not last forever. I want to know what you have planned for when he does find out. Draco will lose his protection and probably his Father's as well."

Harry almost blinked in surprise. That was much more to the point than he had expected of a Slytherin. My, it was almost Gryffindor.

"Professor, you should not worry about that. I can vouch for Draco's safety." he said curtly. Snape had to have understood that he would not reveil anything else about the subject, because he nodded stiffly, though not looking too happy about it.

"Draco further told me that you were suspecting me to have questionable loyalties?"

"Oh no, Professor. I do hope he did not tell you that in this manner. I meant to say that you were a spy for the light. I would not dare to question it." Harry exclaimed in a faux horrified manner.  
He smirked as he saw Snape pale considerably.

"Don't worry, Professor, I will keep this information to myself."

"If I may ask, Lord Black, how exactly is it that you know this?" the Potions Master asked carefully, "If there are any leaks, I would like to secure them."

"There aren't any leaks." Harry said, taking a sip of his butterbeer nonchalantly, "I figured it out all by myself. Not that you are that obvious of course, I merely possess the necessary information to come to the conclusion that you are, in fact, a spy for the light." Then he chuckled lightly, "Of course I would be long dead if you would have been a spy for the Dark side." He then leaned slightly forward, speaking in an urgent tone. "You don't have to do it, by the way. The way Dumbledore is using you just isn't fair. You are risking everything and for what? A protection that should be provided anyway with you being a valuable source of information. It disgusts me, to be frank.  
That's why I'm making you an offer."

Snape's eyes widened, then his forehead creased in suspicion. "What kind of offer? I'm not simply exchanging masters. I've had enough of those."

Lord Black didn't even move a muscle at the accusation. "I could remove your Dark Mark, freeing you of the Dark Lord. I could even create you a fake identity if you wanted to disappear completely. If you don't want that I could also leave the Mark where it is, but numb its effects, so he won't be able to hurt you through it. That way he also wouldn't be able to kill you from a distance any more.

Another option, is the one where I protect you." Harry sat back, concentrating on Snape's reactions. "I could make the Mark invisible to the Ministry, giving you your freedom. Oh, I know they saw it all those years back, but you could claim that it loses its effect if you are no longer loyal to him, those Ministry people are idiots and we all know it."

Snape snorted in agreement at that statement and then replied evenly, "And if I were to be under your protection, what would you demand in return?"

Harry smirked. "Very good, Professor. I would ask you to stay at Hogwarts, giving me information from the Order of the Phoenix. It wouldn't be too difficult to make them believe that your position would be compromised if you were to stay in the Dark Lord's ranks, so they would keep you safely in the Castle."

"You don't want me to spy on the Dark Lord for you?" Snape asked suspicous.

"That choice would be completely up to you. It's not a demand to gain my protection."

It was silent for a moment.

"Why would you do that? What if I choose to turn my back on the Wizarding world? You wouldn't gain anything." Snape eventually burst out. Harry was surprised to see his teacher in this way, but then again, he thought to himself, Snape didn't know that this was him. For all he knew or cared he would never have to see him again. Why not take risks?

"I just want you to have a choice. You've been pushed into corners by other people and I want you to be able to have control over your own life once more." Lord Black stated calmly. "I know what it's like to be ruled by another."

"I want to think about it." Snape said eventually.

Harry felt a little guilty all of a sudden. He had hated this man for years, granted the man's behaviour had not made it difficult for him to do so, but now he just seemed to be just so put out with the fact that someone wanted to help him. Just help him, without truly wanting something in return.

He suddenly felt glad for insisting to be put into Gryffindor. If this was the way Slytherin dealt with its respected ones, what would have happened to him?

"But of course." He said softly in understanding, "Please notify Draco after you made your decision. He will get the message to me. I will secure your own connection to me if you accept my offer."

Snape nodded tensely.

"Would you mind telling me what the meeting was about then? If it was not about Draco's loyalty, something else must have gone on and I know that there weren't any raids that night."

"It was about you actually." Snape admitted reluctantly. "He has taken notice of your stance in the war. His people at the Wizengamot told him. He informed us of this fact and let us know that you were a free target now." He looked a little uncomfortable at the confession.

Harry smirked. "Why, professor, I am honored that I'm not dead yet. I praise myself lucky."

Snape answered his smirk with one of his own. Harry revelled again in being addressed like a normal person. Who knew Snape could be a source of pleasant conversation?

Then the Potions Master snorted softly. "As if I could have hurt you if I had wanted to. I felt the anti-aggression ward as soon as I entered this booth."

Harry laughed outright at that, not in the least feeling apprehensive at being caught. "I should have known that would not escape your notice. But you can't blaim me, can you? If you pardon me saying this, but, you are not exactly known for your peacefulness."

After saying good night in a rather formal way and Snape had left, Harry sagged in his chair. He was glad that conversation was over. He had, with the man's permission, cast a secrecy spell on Snape so he wouldn't be able to tattle on his abilities with the Dark Mark should he choose to just disappear somewhere, but he found that surprisingly enough, he trusted the man enough not to.

**That's it for now.  
I'm sorry for taking this long before updating, but as you all know, I'm a University student and I had my finals, so I didn't have any time to write.  
I just finished this weekend and I wrote as quickly as possible to get this up.**

**Sorry for not including the official Umbridge statement in this chapter just yet. I wanted to, but Snape seemed to talk longer than I had expected him to, so I moved it to the next chapter. It will come then, I promise.**

**Next chapter: the conversation with Ministry officals about Umbridge.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15. Hogsmeade**

Hogwarts students filled up Hogsmeade the next morning. They were all chatting merrily, laughing in front of the displays at Zonko's and rushing to be the first at Honeyduke's to evade long rows. The older girls were gossiping and went in the other direction, towards the few clothing stores Hogsmeade possessed.

People of all ages entered the Three Broomsticks and part of them were also Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville. They had agreed to stay with Harry until the Ministry officals arrived.

"Oh, calm down already." Ron grunted at the third years who were there for the first time and were pushing to get in. "It's not going to disappear if you wait five more minutes, you know."

"And how were you when you were their age, Ron?" Hermione admonished, then she shrieked as a young boy spilled half his butterbeer on her and Harry's Hogwarts uniform. "Watch out, Rodgers!" she reprimanded in a shrill voice that reminded Harry eerily of Mrs. Weasley.

"Sorry, Captain." The boy mumbled apologetically.

"No problem. Just watch where you're going, will you?" Harry grinned.

"I will!" the boy beamed as he saw Harry wasn't angry. "And good luck today."

Hermione looked as if she was going to explode when Rodgers left without even glancing at her.

Somehow it had become known in the DA that Harry was trying to get Umbridge convicted. Luckily it had stayed with the DA, but it had resulted in many good luck wishes yesterday and today, all murmered softly or written on small pieces of paper he had found in his backpack when he had opened it at odd moments.

He had to admit he was touched. He hoped he could give them good news after today.

Two men in dark red robes entered the establishment, accompanied by the familiar face of Amelia Bones. They hadn't seen him yet.

Harry glanced towards his friends, but Neville had seen the Ministry officials as well and was already ushering Ron and Hermione to leave. With a last wish of good luck they put on their cloaks and went outside. On their way to the door Neville paused politely, bowing elegantly to Lady Bones, and said a few words to her. She looked in his direction and Harry derived that his friend had pointed out his seat.

"Lady Bones." Harry said respectfully, making the required bow swiftly. "Please, sit down."

"Heir Potter." she acknowledged. He wasn't too surprised that she didn't use his first name, even though she was allowed by the Wizarding Ways. She was there in function of the Ministry and was bound by its protocols as well.

"These are Aurors Williamson and Savage." Both of them mumbled a respectful greeting and Harry acknowledged them in return.

"Let's get straight to business, shall we?" Lady Bones started, getting out a parchment that appeared to be the letter he had sent her. "You accuse Undersecretary Umbridge of having offended the Potter honor as well as having abused the power she received from the Ministry. That is a serious accusation. Could you please explain what it was she did?"

"Certainly." Harry answered. "Madam Umbridge taught Defense against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts the year after Voldemort returned." The two aurors flinched, Lady Bones didn't budge. "She accused me of lying about it, she told everyone that I was only looking for attention and that none of it was true."

"I'm sure that I'm not alone when I say that I remember she was not the only one doubting you." Lady Bones hesitated.

"Of course." Harry allowed, smiling in reassurance. "But she called me on it in class, gave me unjust detentions and when my Head of House tried to help me, another educational decree was filed in order to stop her. She forbade us from starting clubs and study groups and we had to ask permission in order to reinstate them. Out of spite she refused to allow the Gryffindor team, but Professor McGonagall used her title as Deputy Headmistress to give us permission.

The day after, another decree gave Madam Umbridge more power than the Deputy.

These kinds of happenings were a constant through the year." Harry stopped, looking a little embarrassed about his rant, but Lady Bones paid it no attention.

"I understand from your explanation that she was prejudiced against certain students?" she asked.  
Harry nodded.  
I'm afraidl this is still not really a crime." Lady Bones said reluctantly.

"Excuse me, your Ladyship, but no matter what prejudice, she told the world that I was an incorrigable liar and that I was not to be listened to. I suppose you are aware of the Potter family values?"

The three accross from him nodded, looking puzzled.

"But those were not yet active, were they? You were only fifteen at the time and since you were brought up by your muggle relations you would not have been raised to honor them." Williamson offered.

"I was still capable of lying." Harry explained. "And while it is true that I was unaware such a thing as Family values even existed, I did not live by them explicitly, but I would never have lied to get attention or to fool the entire Wizarding World. It is against my nature. An abhorrence of lying is in my blood.  
Also, I was, and still am, the last scion of the Potters. The Family values are naturally strong in me."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Savage, the other auror exclaimed. "Don't tell me that you have never lied in your life."

Harry laughed whole heartedly. "Of course I have. All children do, you know? But I've always been rubbish at it, my excuses were completely transparant and I did not lie if it wasn't absolutely necessary in my eyes."

"Absolutely necessary." Savage scoffed. "When are lies absolutely necessary?"

"When Voldemort asks you if you are scared." Harry explained dryly, "Or when he asks whether or not you have the Philosopher's stone in possession. When you are lying to get away from a teacher because you know your Godfather is dying in the Ministry. Because a Ministry Undersecretary threatens you with the Cruciatus curse if you don't want to tell her if you know where Dumbledore is, because she wants him out of the way so the Minister would have it easy blinding the public, which gets us back on topic quite nicely, don't you think?"

"She threatened you with what?" Lady Bones exclaimed, somewhat unladylike. "Why didn't you add that in your letter?"

Harry shrugged. "It's not a crime, is it? Threatening? Hermione stopped her right before she could use it. I didn't want to be shrugged off for being an attention seeker again."

"Of course it is a crime!" Williamson cried. "Did she really do that?"

The raven haired Heir rolled his eyes. "No, I'm lying." Then he mumbled softly under his breath," Honestly."

"Heir Potter." Lady Bones admonished sharply.

"Sorry." Harry mumbled.

"Anything else unusual? What was the general opinion on her at school?"

"Everyone thought her a stupid, brainless toad with an unhealty affection for cats." he said bluntly. They knew he couldn't lie, so they should have known what they were getting themselves into when they asked that.

Savage couldn't keep in a chuckle.

"She didn't teach us anything, afraid that Dumbledore would use us against Fudge as his personal army." Lady Bones' eyes widened comically.  
Harry still wasn't finished. "Filch worshipped her, it was gross. I think he knew about that bloody quill somehow. Of course he would like _that._"

"Wait, Heir Potter. What quill?"

Mr. Jenkins had advised him to act as young and innocent as possible and so far, everything was going great. He seemed to be someone who was trying to take the Lordship seriously, but couldn't help being a muggle raised boy.

"The quill she made us write with in detentions. Everyone hated that thing." He said with a shrug.

"Was there something special about it then?" Lady Bones enquired.

Harry ruffled his hair in a nervous manner. "We didn't need ink to write with it. It used our blood instead."

Savage and Williamson tensed. "Did it do something specific?"

"Yeah. It carved the lines we did in our hand. Like this, you see?" he answered, showing the scars on his right hand.

_I mustn't tell lies_

The words shone clear on the back of his hand as Harry moved it.

"I think we have enough information to start a trial, Heir Potter." Lady Bones said, gritting her teeth together in anger. Williamson kicked Savage under the table in order to keep him from making some snide remark, so Harry supposed, against Umbridge this time.

"If I may, I suggest you contact a solicitor to look this through and if I may be so blunt, please tell him everything you disliked about Madam Umbridge. There may be other things you missed. That would be a shame, don't you think?"

"Of course, Lady Bones." Harry acknowledged. "I had already contacted a trustworthy solicitor for some other affairs, I will make sure to mention this to him."

Lady Bones nodded in satisfaction. "In that case I shall leave you to your day out. We shall see each other again when I need more information."

"Certainly."

They all rose and, after the necessary greeting, the three officals left, leaving Harry as happy as possible behind.

Everything had gone quite well, he mused. Then he groaned softly. He still had to show this entire conversation to Hermione that night and for some reason, he wasn't really looking forward to it.  
He left the Three Broomsticks, imagining his friend's reaction to every seperate sentence they had said and regretting the promise he had made about the arrangement.

He was just pondering if he could somehow get Neville to do it when he heard a scared scream in a young girl's voice.  
Before another thought, his wand was out and he stood with his back against the wall. No one else seemed to have heard anything, though.

Thinking it best not to cause any unnecessary panic, he approached the alley he thought the noise had come from and peeked around the corner.

He didn't understand what he was looking at at first, but then the image suddenly clicked.

Three boys in Hogwarts uniform stood with their backs to him. One of them had his wand out, pointing away from him to, what from Harry's point of view, looked like a blank wall.  
He realised, though, that it wasn't just a wall. He had been in a similar situation too often himself not to recognise a scene like this.

"Don't you dare cast another spell." He warned the boy in a low and dangerous tone as he saw the kid was aiming again.

The boys froze and he heard a relieved sigh behind them, confirming Harry's suspicions.

"Turn around, the three of you" he said, "And put your wands away." he added coolly as he saw the other two had pulled them.

A girl Harry recognised as a first year Slytherin, emerged from behind them and ran as hard as she could to the Main street, probably in search of her friends. She had scratches all over and some spots of her bare arms were turning blue as if someone had pinched her.  
The most obvious thing, however, was the thing that got Harry truly mad.  
The girl was covered in paint. The kids had probably thought it was funny to humiliate her that way.

It wasn't until now that Harry fully focused his attention on the bullies and recognised them to be members of the DA.

His anger rose to fury and he couldn't fully control the itching, burning magic any longer. It broke free of its boundaries and pulsed angrily around him, giving him a white hot aura. His robes billowed off him and his hair rose to stand up even more than it usually did.

"You dare to use spells _I_ taught you to _hurt others_?" he asked, his voice ice cold and filled with power. He already felt how Sentar was trying and failing to absorb all astray magic directed at the children.

"Sh-she was asking for it." The bravest exclaimed. "She comes from a family of Ravenclaws and then got herself sorted into Slytherin!"

"Fools!" Harry spat. "I wish I could show you _now_ what a mess you've gotten yourselves into, but it will have to wait until tonight. There will be an emergency DA. I'm expecting you." The air around him was threatening enough not to make them even hesitate before agreeing.

"Now get out of here. Go back to the castle right away. Before I change my mind and get McGonagall." The three stumbled and walked past him slowly in the direction of the castle.

"Or should I make that Snape?" he called behind them.

The faces of the three went ashen and they immediately broke into a run.

As soon as the three bullies were out of his sight, Harry calmed down enough to reign in his magic once more. He looked around and tried to find the girl, but she was long gone. No one was around, so he pulled up his sleeve, exposing Sentar.

"That was close, Master." the snake hissed in dismay. "You are growing more powerful and I can't keep up. We should find a way to control your magic in an emergency."

Harry sighed. "I know. I was close to hurting those children and I still get angry when I think about it. What should I do? I don't have any clue on how to punish them and I want to keep the teachers out of it. Do you think the girl will tell?"

"She might tell her nest mates." Sentar said, meaning the girl's room mates and best friends, "But I doubt this will make it to the Shallow Man. She was ashamed of allowing herself to get cornered."

The raven haired teen nodded. "I think you are right. Maybe they will understand that I mean to help them, now."

Sentar shook its head in hesitation, "It might." he allowed, "Only, you didn't see it was a Snake child before you tried to help."

"But they don't know that, do they?" Harry grinned. "Thanks, Sentar, I needed to have a regular conversation to help me calm down."

"No thanks is necessary, Master." Sentar hissed, in a tone Harry was starting to recognise as honored. "And if I might suggest a way to deal with your wayward snakelings?"

* * *

"Hey, are you done already?" his friends asked as he met with them at Honeydukes.

"Yeah, they didn't need a lot of my time." he smiled.

"'Ow did e go?" Ron asked, his mouth full of candy. Hermione smacked the back of his head. "That's gross!" she said, scrunching up her nose.

Harry grinned and shrugged. "It went pretty well, I think. But I can't say anything yet."

He had decided together with Sentar that he wouldn't tell his friends anything about the bullying that had taken place, so that they would hear it for the first time that night and couldn't be associated with his choice in punishment.

He didn't want them to be targeted for his decisions or to be shunned from the others because of 'holding an advantage over them'.

"Are you sure it went alright, Harry?" Hermione asked, "You look a little.. different." She couldn't quite put the word on it, he noticed. She was probably sensing the residues of his magical outbursts and they were making her uncomfortable.

He nodded. "I'm fine, Hermione, truly." he said.

She sighed, but left the subject alone. If he said he was fine, it was impossible to say he was lying. One of the better sides of his Family values, he said to himself.

Ron had gathered an enormous portion of candy off the shelves. The cashier was looking at him with large eyes.  
"She's new." Harry remarked to Neville with a grin. "And the owner didn't tell her about Ron so he could see her face probably." he pointed to a man sitting at a desk in the room off the shop. The man had heard him and grinned sheepishly.

They all burst out laughing, well, except for the poor cashier, who was still trying to calculate how much Ron owed her.

They came outside and Ron held out his bags to Harry expectantly. "Could you please do your feather light charm on my bag, mate? This is too heavy to carry back to school."

Hermione huffed, but couldn't keep a smile off her face.

"Sure." he agreed, casting the spell.

Something unexpected happened.

The bag floated up, going higher and higher, like a giant balloon.

"Knock it off, mate." Ron said, laughing and reaching for the bag. It kept flying higher and was almost out of their reach.

Harry stood aghast, staring up at the colourful bag. "That was a feather light charm, Ron. I didn't do anything."

"Seriously?" Hermione asked, "The only way that bag could float because of a feather light charm is if you made it lighter than air! That's impossible! The raw amount of magic necessary for that..." she trailed off and looked at Harry. "You came into your magical maturity, didn't you? That's why you felt different. Oh, Harry, why didn't you tell us?"

"Well." Harry started hesitantly. He hadn't really noticed it, to be honest, but he could hardly tell them that if he wanted to keep the bullying a secret for a while longer. It must have happened in between, he pondered to himself, unknowingly switching to parseltongue.

"What happened, Master?" Sentar inquired curiously.

"I have reached magical maturity, did you notice?"

Sentar uncurled around his arm in excitement. "I tasted a difference in your magic, Master, while I was trying to calm it down, but I did not understand. This is brilliant news!"

"Explain it to me later, please. My friends are waiting." he smiled.

His friends were staring and it was then that Harry remembered he had never told them about Sentar.

"Ah, right." he mumbled. "Not here." he then said. "Come with me." He headed towards the shrieking shack.

It had been a long time since they had last been there, he decided when he saw all the dust that had gathered on top of the mess he remembered. The last time they had been here, Sirius had been alive and he, Harry, had wanted to kill him. Wormtail had been there too, and Lupin, and even Snape.

"So?" Hermione asked shrilly, calling him back to the present.

"I want you to meet someone." he said, pulling back his sleeve. Sentar slithered up his arm, resting around his shoulders.

His friends gasped.

"This is Sentar. He is my familiar. He has been for a few weeks and apparently it slipped my mind to tell you guys."

"He is beautiful, Harry." Neville remarked. He had some knowledge of magical creatures, as well as plants. "I've never seen one like him before. What kind of snake is he?"

"I don't really know." Harry admitted. He then proceeded to tell his friends how exactly he had become bonded with Sentar.

"You mean to tell me that snake is a Dark Mark?" Hermione shrieked. "How are you sure you can trust him? For all we know he is passing information to Voldemort!"

Harry's magic flared, the others seemed to feel it and backed down.

"Erm, Hermione." Neville started. "A familiar would never betray its bonded wizard. And it is impossible to fake that bond." He added quickly as he saw her next accusation coming.

"Fine then. So you got yourself a snake." Ron said, not quite able to hide his shiver of disgust at his words. "Now what were you discussing earlier?"

Harry calmed down at being able to focus on something different and the air cleared again. "Sentar was telling me how he tried to protect me by absorbing the extra magic that got loose when I gained my maturity, but it failed. That had never happened before. I was relieved that we found the reason for it."

"So that night you got Madam Bones's letter." Hermione understood suddenly.

"Yes, Sentar was helping me in the shrieking shack. It's because of him that I was alright in the morning." Harry smiled. "We've helped each other out quite a lot since we met."

Ron jumped up, his eyes wide in anxious question. "Erm, mate, where has the snake been sleeping all this time?"

"Usually he sleeps under the covers of my bed, at my feet." Harry answered without thinking. Then his eyes gained a mischievous spark. "But who's to say he stays in my bed all night long. For all I know he goes exploring at night."

The scream Ron gave after this declaration convinced a lot of villagers and students that the rumour of a ghost that lived in the Shrieking Shack wasn't just a rumour after all.

**Well that's the end of this chapter.  
I hope you guys liked it.**

**What do you think Harry and Sentar decided to do with the bullies?**

**How do you think his friends will react when they find out Harry kept this from them?**

**Did you like the conversation with the Ministry officials?**

**If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask them.**

**NOTICE: I will no longer be able to reply to each seperate review. If it contains a question, I will try to answer.  
Thanks for everyone who reviewed last chapter!**

**Next chapter: the punishment of the bullies.**

**Sincerely  
Dolceconbrio**


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